June 19, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 103 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Pages S3826-S3827]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             VA MISSION Act

  Mr. President, I also came to talk about the VA. In 2014, a scandal 
broke at the VA in Phoenix, and the entire Nation paused for a moment 
and saw what was happening at the Phoenix VA and saw how broken the 
healthcare system was.
  There have been some very significant changes since that time period. 
The Veterans Choice and Accountability Act was passed, giving veterans 
the opportunity to get access to healthcare if it was backed up and 
slow at their own VA health center. If they couldn't get there within 
30 days to see someone, then they would have the opportunity to see 
someone in their local area. If it was a long distance to get there, 
they weren't required to drive long distances from rural areas to get 
to an urban VA center. That passed with the Veterans Choice Act, and 
that was the beginning point of reform in the VA centers.
  There were lots of problems in the Choice Act in the very beginning--
getting access to doctors, doctors getting paid. How far is the 
distance? Is it based on mileage on the road, or is it as the crow 
flies? There were all kinds of things that got worked out in the first 
year or so. Within the first year, we started seeing veterans getting 
access to care closer to home and faster, but early on in that success, 
we also realized there was a need for major changes.
  Not long after that, this Congress passed reform to hiring and firing 
at

[[Page S3827]]

the VA, giving authority to supervisors at the VA. If someone was not 
taking care of our veterans, there was a faster path to review this 
person, evaluate this person, and, if they would not change their 
behavior in the workforce, to be able to release them.
  That special authority was given to VA centers all across the country 
just a couple of years ago, and the VA centers have used that to 
dramatically change the face of the people taking care of our veterans. 
Across the country, multiple individuals who were not putting veterans 
first have now been removed from VA centers, including those in 
Oklahoma. People who are passionate about taking care of veterans were 
put in those spots.
  Just 1 year ago this month, Congress, along with President Trump, 
prioritized veterans again by passing the MISSION Act. The MISSION Act 
takes the Choice Act from a couple of years ago to the next logical 
step. It gives veterans the ability to have streamlined access to 
community care programs. They can still choose to go to their veterans 
centers, and many veterans choose to do that. They want to go there. 
They like their physician and their nurses and the process they go 
through there. But some of them want to go to a physician in their 
community. Maybe their spouse or kids go to that same physician, or 
maybe it is a family physician whom their family has known for a long 
time. Instead of being required to head to a VA center, they have the 
option to get care in their own community.
  Also, if they need a specialist and the veterans center doesn't have 
that specialist close to them, they can get access to the specialist in 
an area that is close to them.
  I will never forget the day that I dropped by one of the veterans 
centers in Oklahoma. I dropped by on a Sunday. Quite frankly, I wanted 
to meet the veterans and knew that none of the administration would be 
there and that I could just talk to the folks in the hallway and there 
wouldn't be the pomp and circumstance of a Senator walking up and down 
the halls. So I got a chance to visit with the veterans and see how 
they were doing and how their care was going.

  As I walked into one of the rooms and introduced myself and asked a 
veteran how his care was going, he said: My care is going great. My 
doctors are terrific.
  I said: Is this your first time in a veterans center?
  He said: No. I have been in one before, but it wasn't here; it was in 
Seattle.
  I said: Did you live in Seattle?
  His response was: No, I didn't live in Seattle. I live here in 
Oklahoma, but I needed a certain type of cancer care, and the VA said 
that to get that specialty cancer care, I had to go to Seattle, to that 
veterans center, to get it.
  My next question was obvious: Did your family get to go?
  He hesitated, and then he said: No. I was in cancer treatment for 6 
weeks by myself because the VA wouldn't cover my family to go there.
  So a veteran who served us, who had to be away from his family, in 
service, multiple times then had to be away from his family again when 
he had cancer treatment. Why in the world would we do that when in 
Oklahoma, we have the Stephenson Cancer Center? One of the top cancer 
hospitals in the country is right in Oklahoma City. We have great 
cancer care in Tulsa. We have some phenomenal facilities that could 
have taken care of that veteran, and his family could have participated 
with him so he would not have been separated at one of the most 
traumatic moments of his life. Guess what. With the passage of the 
MISSION Act, that will never happen again. Specialty care like that can 
be done locally. When there is a great specialist nearby, they can get 
to that specialist nearby.
  The MISSION Act really is a sea change in how we make sure the 
promise to our veterans is being maintained. It is not about putting 
all veterans in all cases of all care in a veterans center and saying: 
That is where everybody has to go. It is going back to the veteran and 
saying: What would you prefer? What is your preference? What is best 
for your treatment?
  What is best for their treatment may not be the VA center there; it 
may be a highly skilled, highly prepared, quality set of doctors in a 
nearby specialty center for diabetes or cancer. This allows them to do 
that.
  I do commend our veteran care centers in Oklahoma. There are some 
great leaders there who are working very hard. With the transition in 
personnel that has occurred in the last couple of years and the hard 
decisions that have been made, they have put in some really top-notch 
folks. I am proud they are in my State and in the way they are taking 
care of our veterans.
  As we implement the MISSION Act in the days ahead, my hope is that we 
continue to give veterans the opportunity to make choices about their 
own care, that we continue to achieve stronger skill sets in the areas 
of care needed for our veterans, and that VA centers will be places 
where the highest quality of care will be given with regard to veteran-
specific issues. So when a specialist is needed and maybe that 
specialist is not available at the veterans care center, veterans will 
still be able to get the best care they possibly can.
  I look forward to the regulations continuing to be rolled out, as 
they are rolling out right now. Most of all, I look forward to looking 
our veterans in the face when asking ``Are you getting the care you 
need?'' and hearing their answer of ``yes.'' That is what I look 
forward to.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to engage in 
colloquy with my Senate colleague.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.