- Bernie
Sanders
« Veterans
Bernie 2020
November 11, 2019
NEWS: Sanders Proposes Bold Veterans Agenda
WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday released his veterans agenda, called “Honoring Our Commitment to Veterans,” which will guarantee veterans the benefits and services they were promised, protect and expand disability benefits for veterans, guarantee justice for veterans and expand opportunities for veterans. The proposal comes as Americans around the country honor Veterans Day.
"As a nation, we have a moral obligation to provide the best quality care to those who put their lives on the line to defend us,” Sanders, who served as Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee from 2013 to 2015, said. “Just as planes and tanks and guns are a cost of war, so is taking care of the men and women who we sent off to fight the wars. It includes caring for the spouses and children who have to rebuild their lives after the loss of a loved one. It includes caring for the hundreds of thousands of veterans with multiple amputations or loss of eyesight, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. It includes veterans who are having difficulty keeping jobs in order to pay their bills, and it includes the terrible tragedy of veterans committing suicide. As president, I will do everything that I can to make sure that every veteran gets the benefits that they are entitled to receive on time and without delay. Further, we will not dismantle or privatize the VA. We will expand and improve the VA."
During Sanders’ time as Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, a series of reports revealed that the Veterans Health Administration was failing veterans, leaving many to wait too long for care and putting lives in danger. Sanders worked with Sen. John McCain to successfully negotiate and pass a bill that invested billions into the VA system. The landmark legislation authorized twenty-seven new medical facilities and provided $5 billion to hire more doctors and nurses to care for the surging number of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and those veterans from earlier eras in need of more complex care.
The Sanders campaign on Monday also released a new video, “Keeping Our Promise,” which highlights Sanders’ work on that landmark legislation.
Sanders' plan will:
- Fill the nearly 50,000 vacancies at the VA during your first year in office. Under a Bernie Sanders administration, the VA will hire the doctors, nurses and medical professionals necessary to provide the care that veterans need when they need it.
- Provide at least $62 billion in new funding to repair, modernize and rebuild the infrastructure at the VA in order to provide the cutting-edge health care services our veterans have earned and deserve.
- Ensure that all those with prior military service in every state and territory have access to the full complement of health care services they need to stay healthy and well.
- Improve and simplify the claims process so veterans receive the compensation they have earned quickly, accurately, and without bureaucratic red tape.
- Reform harmful VA regulations that restrict access to care and benefits based on character of discharge.
- Ensure veterans can use the full complement of benefits through the G.I. Bill without hassle or red tape.
Honoring Our Commitment to Veterans
Key Points
- Eliminate the VA benefits backlog, fully fund and resource the VA, and reverse the disastrous privatization of services for veterans.
- Fill the nearly 50,000 vacancies at the VA in Bernie’s first year.
- Provide at least $62 billion in new funding to repair, modernize and rebuild VA infrastructure.
- Expand the VA’s Caregivers Program as well as mental health services for veterans.
- Reform harmful VA regulations that restrict access to care and benefits based on character of discharge.
Details
Guarantee Veterans Benefits and Services They Were Promised
Whether they were drafted three-quarters of a century ago, commissioned or enlisted within the last few years, no one with prior military service should have to spend months, years or even decades fighting through red tape and government bureaucracy to prove they’re entitled to the benefits they were promised. As president, Bernie will finally guarantee veterans the benefits and services they were promised.
This is not a new issue for Bernie. He has spent his entire career fighting for veterans.
- As the former Chair and longtime member
of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, one of Bernie’s highest
priorities in Congress has been ensuring veterans and their families
receive the care and benefits they have earned.
- Amid reports of unacceptable wait times
at VA medical facilities during his time as Chairman, Bernie
spearheaded the bipartisan effort to strengthen the VA health care
system long into the future.
- His legislation, authored with the
late-Senator John McCain, authorized 27 new medical facilities and
provided $5 billion to hire more doctors and nurses to care for the
surging number of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan and those veterans from earlier eras in need of more
complex care. This historic legislation also provided strong incentives
to attract talented medical professionals to the VA.
- It also expanded VA educational benefits and improved care for survivors of military sexual trauma.
- His legislation, authored with the
late-Senator John McCain, authorized 27 new medical facilities and
provided $5 billion to hire more doctors and nurses to care for the
surging number of veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan and those veterans from earlier eras in need of more
complex care. This historic legislation also provided strong incentives
to attract talented medical professionals to the VA.
It is absolutely unacceptable that the misguided priorities in Washington mean that the promises we make to our veterans are being broken by Members of Congress and the President each and every day. We have a political process that rewards large defense contractors with wealthy CEOs and high-paid lobbyists, leaving hard working, patriotic veterans and servicemembers to fight for their benefits long after they finished fighting for our country. The broken budget process in Washington provides a fraction of the funding actually needed to provide the services and benefits our nation’s veterans earned and deserve. As President, Bernie will fight for our nation’s veterans to get them the funding, services, and benefits they are owed and deserve.
Health Care
Bernie will fully fund the VA with the staff and infrastructure needed to ensure our country keeps its promise to our veterans. The overwhelming majority of veterans are happy with the care they receive from the VA and it’s our job to make it easier - not harder - for them to get that high-quality care. As a longtime member and former Chair of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Bernie has heard from veterans in every corner of this country, from our most urban centers to our most rural communities, about the care they receive at the VA. Time and again, those veterans want more care through the VA, not less. They know they can get high-quality care at the VA from dedicated providers who understand and care about the unique needs and experiences of our veterans.
Bernie also understands there will be times when it makes sense for veterans to utilize care in the community. Bernie knows that community care access should not - and cannot - come at the expense of VA care. Not only has VA care been found to be as good or better than private sector care at equal or lower cost, but private sector providers are unprepared and often uninterested in caring for the unique needs of veterans. For these reasons, coupled with robust quality standards and safeguards, we must make sure that VA care is available to veterans wherever and whenever possible.
Throughout his career, including during his time as Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Bernie has opposed efforts to privatize the VA. As Senator, Bernie voted against the VA MISSION Act because he knew it was taking the VA in the wrong direction and putting veterans at risk. By sending more and more care into the private sector, veterans’ preferences to keep the VA strong would be ignored in favor of the preferences of wealthy donors like the Mar-a-lago Trio and massive corporations. The privatization occurring under the MISSION Act is leading to a massive budget shortfall in every region of the country. Instead of coming to Congress to request the funding needed to meet our obligation to provide care to veterans, the Trump administration is simply telling hospitals and medical professionals to do more with less, which will inevitably lead to worse care and more private sector care.
As President, Bernie will:
- Work to fill the nearly 50,000
vacancies at the VA during his first year in office. The VA must hire
the doctors, nurses and medical professionals necessary to provide the
care that veterans need when they need it.
- Ensure that all those with prior
military service in every state and territory have access to the full
complement of health care services they need to stay healthy and well.
- Coupled with Medicare for All,
veterans will be able to rely on a health care system that is working
for them, not against them; a system focused on a person’s health, not
their ability to pay.
- Coupled with Medicare for All,
veterans will be able to rely on a health care system that is working
for them, not against them; a system focused on a person’s health, not
their ability to pay.
- Finally guarantee comprehensive dental
care as a health care benefit to all former servicemembers.
- Under Bernie’s plan, every veteran
who is eligible for health care through the VA will be eligible for
comprehensive dental care. Not only will this make veterans healthier,
it can build self-esteem,
help
them
in their
employment, and lower overall health care costs since good oral
health care is shown to reduce the risk of costly - even deadly -
infections, like endocarditis.
- Under Bernie’s plan, every veteran
who is eligible for health care through the VA will be eligible for
comprehensive dental care. Not only will this make veterans healthier,
it can build self-esteem,
help
them
in their
employment, and lower overall health care costs since good oral
health care is shown to reduce the risk of costly - even deadly -
infections, like endocarditis.
- Greatly expand access to VA mental
health and suicide prevention services.
- We must end the stigma associated
with mental health in this country once-and-for-all.
- Expand these critical services to
members of the National Guard and Reserve, regardless of whether they
ever served overseas or in combat.
- Research continues to show that
one of the populations most at risk of suicide are those members of the
National Guard who have not deployed in support of a federal mission.
But, under current law, these guard members aren’t allowed to use the
excellent, specialized mental health and suicide prevention resources
available through the VA.
- Research continues to show that
one of the populations most at risk of suicide are those members of the
National Guard who have not deployed in support of a federal mission.
But, under current law, these guard members aren’t allowed to use the
excellent, specialized mental health and suicide prevention resources
available through the VA.
- Expand successful Beyond the Yellow
Ribbon programs, like the Vermont Veterans Outreach Program, so
National Guard members and their families can benefit from helpful
support services like mental health, financial and marriage counseling
before, during and after deployments.
- We must end the stigma associated
with mental health in this country once-and-for-all.
- Guarantee our veterans the long-term
care services they need.
- Expand the Veteran Directed Care
Program to ensure that all veterans can choose who provides them with
support.
- Long-term care services provided at
VA Community Living Centers and State Veterans Homes offer veterans
high-quality care and dignity during the final stages of life.
Unfortunately, strict eligibility standards for these services mean
only a small fraction of veterans qualify. We will simplify eligibility
criteria so critically-important long-term care services can be used by
all veterans who use the VA, so they can continue to benefit from
high-quality care even when they are no longer able to live at home.
- Improve and expand the VA’s
comprehensive caregiver program.
- When we provide robust funding
for the comprehensive caregiver program we will actually save money in
the long run by spending less on more expensive, less compassionate
institutional care.
- Expand eligibility for the VA’s
Caregiver Program to include not only those veterans with injuries
connected to their military services but also illnesses, like cancer,
blindness and dementia. These veterans deserve the right to be able to
stay in their homes, cared for by those who love them.
- Their families also deserve to
be compensated for the care they already provide; they deserve
education on how to best care for their loved one, transportation to
and from medical appointments, and respite care that allows them the
time needed to care for themselves.
- When we provide robust funding
for the comprehensive caregiver program we will actually save money in
the long run by spending less on more expensive, less compassionate
institutional care.
- Guarantee home and community based
long-term care services.
- Under Medicare for All, if
veterans want to remain at home and receive the supports and services
to do so, they will have that choice. These services will be available
when people need them, without waitlists, asset and income
restrictions, and other barriers.
- Under Medicare for All, if
veterans want to remain at home and receive the supports and services
to do so, they will have that choice. These services will be available
when people need them, without waitlists, asset and income
restrictions, and other barriers.
- Expand the Veteran Directed Care
Program to ensure that all veterans can choose who provides them with
support.
- Ensure that all veterans are treated
with dignity and respect.
- All veterans, regardless of their
gender, race, sexual orientation or gender identity must have equal
access to health care services - especially when it comes to treating
injuries and illnesses connected to their military service. For too
long, too many veterans have had to fight for the medical care to treat
their service-connected needs
- End the VA’s blanket exclusion on
medically necessary gender-affirmation surgeries.
- Ensure that women veterans will no
longer be forced outside the VA system for basic women’s health
services, including fertility treatment, abortion care, or specialized
cancer treatment and prevention services.
- All veterans, regardless of their
gender, race, sexual orientation or gender identity must have equal
access to health care services - especially when it comes to treating
injuries and illnesses connected to their military service. For too
long, too many veterans have had to fight for the medical care to treat
their service-connected needs
- Provide over $62 billion in new funding
for VA infrastructure.
- Today, due to serious underfunding,
the VA’s infrastructure is crumbling and in vital need of repair. VA
hospitals have gone without needed updates and maintenance, and
outpatient clinics and Vet Centers have gone unopened. As President,
Bernie will invest at least $62 billion in the infrastructure needed to
provide the cutting-edge health care services our veterans have earned
and deserve.
- Today, due to serious underfunding,
the VA’s infrastructure is crumbling and in vital need of repair. VA
hospitals have gone without needed updates and maintenance, and
outpatient clinics and Vet Centers have gone unopened. As President,
Bernie will invest at least $62 billion in the infrastructure needed to
provide the cutting-edge health care services our veterans have earned
and deserve.
- Support VA employees.
- One of the best ways to guarantee
veterans get good care at the VA is to ensure the VA can attract the
best and brightest staff. Republican efforts to undermine the VA always
include attacks on the good people who go to work every day to serve
our veterans. That is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in a
Bernie Sanders Administration.
- Support VA personnel and attract
new staff by providing, strong whistleblower protections, ending
anti-union attacks and offering other incentives that reward
high-quality work like reasonable staffing ratios and compensation that
is competitive with the private sector.
- One of the best ways to guarantee
veterans get good care at the VA is to ensure the VA can attract the
best and brightest staff. Republican efforts to undermine the VA always
include attacks on the good people who go to work every day to serve
our veterans. That is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in a
Bernie Sanders Administration.
- Ensure VA providers have the option of
appropriately prescribing medical marijuana to their patients.
- End the privatization, corruption and
corporate greed of the VA by undoing the damage done by corrupt
billionaires profiteering off veterans and taxpayers.
- Stop the irresponsible, immoral outsourcing of our nation’s responsibility that is lining the pockets of millionaire CEOs and investors, recentering VA care on veterans.
Disability Benefits
No one who was injured through their military service should be denied benefits because of complicated bureaucracy, period. We have seen too many veterans struggle to get the benefits to which they are rightly entitled. Worse still, veterans who have fought for and won these benefits have them taken away when their health improves. Bernie believes that veterans must be compensated for the disabilities connected to their service without being penalized for working hard to make improvements in their health.
Bernie believes that we must listen to the medical experts when it comes to compensating veterans for injuries and illnesses connected to their military service.
As President, Bernie will:
- Improve and simplify the claims process
so veterans receive the compensation they have earned quickly,
accurately, and without bureaucratic red tape.
- Eliminate the VA benefits backlog. A
Bernie Sanders Administration will no longer tolerate over 70,000
veterans having to wait over 125 days for a determination on their
benefits and up to 7 years to wait for a decision by a Veterans Law
Judge.
- End the disgraceful practice of
President Trump and VA Secretary Wilkie, who have willfully chosen to
ignore the medical community.
- On his first day in office, Bernie
will validate the findings of the Institute of Medicine (now known as
the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine) to make
sure veterans exposed to Agent Orange are compensated for bladder
cancer and other illnesses. It is absolutely unacceptable that our
current President is actively working against our ill and injured
veterans, not for them.
- Ensure no future president can do
what Trump has done, by changing the law to make the recommendations of
medical experts automatic, not reliant on presidential action.
- On his first day in office, Bernie
will validate the findings of the Institute of Medicine (now known as
the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine) to make
sure veterans exposed to Agent Orange are compensated for bladder
cancer and other illnesses. It is absolutely unacceptable that our
current President is actively working against our ill and injured
veterans, not for them.
- Expand the list of injuries and
illnesses presumed to be connected with military service.
- Include the most commonly
associated illnesses and injuries found in veterans from each era,
including hearing loss and musculoskeletal injuries, like back and knee
injuries.
- Finally include those veterans
whose locations and occupations during their service in the military
was Classified, righting the wrong that far too many of these veterans
have gone without the care they’ve been entitled to simply because the
Department of Defense is unwilling to tell the Department of Veterans
Affairs needed information.
- Include the most commonly
associated illnesses and injuries found in veterans from each era,
including hearing loss and musculoskeletal injuries, like back and knee
injuries.
- Fight for servicemembers exposed to
toxic substances.
- Ensure that veterans exposed to toxic substances from asbestos and ionized radiation in World War II to Agent Orange in Vietnam to burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan are compensated for the myriad of diseases associated with these dangerous chemicals. It is absolutely unacceptable that we have exposed our brave military members to these dangerous chemicals and even worse that we then fail to compensate and care for the illnesses they cause.
Caring for Veteran Families
Bernie understands that if we are truly committed to our servicemembers and veterans, we must also commit ourselves to their families, who play a critical - but often ignored - role. Bernie will make it easier for family members to access the benefits to which they are entitled. This is especially true for Gold Star Families, Widows and Widowers.
Today, only a small number of veterans have been able to participate in VA’s Program of Comprehensive Support for Family Caregivers, which helps family members access the full complement of resources they need to care for veterans with service-connected injuries in their home.
But it’s completely unacceptable that Donald Trump and Republicans in Washington have failed to provide the funding needed to actually enroll these qualified veterans in the program. Today, too many veteran families are forced to make the terrible choice between sending their loved one to a nursing home or caring for them in their home at their own expense. Bernie will invest in our military families because he knows that it is not only the morally right thing to do but that such investment also makes our nation stronger.
As President, Bernie will:
- Fairly compensate military survivors by
finally ending the unfair practice that prevents military widows and
widowers for receiving their Dependency and Indemnity Compensation and
the Survivor Benefit Plan - even though they are entitled to both.
- Improve and expand VA’s comprehensive
caregiver program.
- Providing robust funding for the
comprehensive caregiver program will actually save money in the long
run by spending less on more expensive, less compassionate
institutional care.
- Expand eligibility for the VA’s
Caregiver Program to include not only those veterans with injuries
connected to their military services but also illnesses, like cancer,
blindness and dementia. These veterans deserve the right to be able to
stay in their homes, cared for by those who love them.
- Their families also deserve to be compensated for the care they already provide; they deserve education on how to best care for their loved one, transportation to and from medical appointments, and respite care that allows them the time needed to care for themselves.
- Providing robust funding for the
comprehensive caregiver program will actually save money in the long
run by spending less on more expensive, less compassionate
institutional care.
Guarantee Justice for Veterans
Bernie understands that today, many of those who served our country in uniform are prohibited from accessing critical services because of the terms of their discharge from the military. Too often, these servicemembers made relatively small infractions that have stripped them of the very benefits they need most. Bernie will change VA regulations so they match Congressional intent, meaning that the only veterans barred from accessing VA care and benefits are those with dishonorable discharges.
Bernie will also make the process for a change in the character of discharge more fair across branches of the military. Bernie believes that all those with prior military service should be guaranteed the same fair process for petitioning to change the character of their discharge determination. We must not allow branches of the military to use “bad paper” discharges as a way to shrink their force. Bernie will stand with the Vietnam Veterans of America and the Campaign for a Presidential Pardon to get justice for thousands of veterans.
Bernie will also end the outrageous and inhumane practice of deporting undocumented veterans and their family members. Bernie will go further, returning deported veterans to the United States and reuniting families who have been unjustly separated. He will use executive authority to allow the families of veterans and servicemembers to reside in the United States without fear of deportation. This includes swiftly reuniting some families of veterans who have been waiting years or even decades for their visas to be processed.
As President, Bernie will:
- Change harmful VA regulations that
restrict access to care and benefits based on character of discharge.
- Ensure any servicemember discharged
from the military for marijuana use or possession can apply for a
discharge upgrade, so they can become eligible for the full complement
of services and benefits provided by the VA.
- Immediately terminate deportations of
non-citizen members of our armed forces, veterans and their families.
- Return deported servicemembers and
veterans to the United States.
- Restore the use of parole in place
for undocumented family members of servicemembers and veterans to allow
them to stay in the United States free from fear of deporation, access
work opportunities, and remove barriers to adjustment of status.
- Use advance parole to ensure family members of Filipino World War II veterans can reunite with their families in the United States while their visas are pending, and work with Congress to ensure these visas are expedited and exempt from per-country caps.
- Return deported servicemembers and
veterans to the United States.
Expand Opportunities for Veterans
Bernie will ensure all veterans can pursue higher education if they choose without taking out crippling student debt or being preyed on by exploitative for-profit colleges. From commercial truck drivers to various health care fields, there is no reason not to allow our servicemembers to transfer their much-needed skills into the private sector without hassle and red tape.
Bernie also believes that affordable housing is a human right, not a luxury reserved for the wealthy. In America today, more than 18 million families are paying more than 50 percent of their income on housing and the most recent data show that there are over 40,000 homeless veterans. Bernie will support critical housing programs through the VA focused on ending veterans homelessness, while also making it easier for veterans to stay in their homes so they never become homeless in the first place.
As Senator from Vermont, Bernie saw first-hand the impact of difficult overseas deployments of members of our National Guard. He saw that these brave individuals often struggled to access the services they needed when returning home. He understood this needed to change and secured funding for the creation of the Vermont Veterans Outreach Program. Bernie will expand on this effort to all those who served in uniform and provide the full complement of resources needed to successfully transition from the military into civilian life.
As President, Bernie will:
- Improve and simplify education benefits.
- Pass College for All to make public
colleges and universities tuition free and debt free.
- Ensure veterans can use the full
complement of benefits through the G.I. Bill without hassle or red tape.
- Lift the expiration dates on
benefits under the Montgomery and Post-9/11 G.I. Bill to match the
benefits under the Forever G.I. Bill.
- Ensure that all veterans,
regardless of where they live, are guaranteed in-state tuition at
public colleges and universities.
- Hold for-profit colleges who try to
take advantage of our veterans accountable.
- End the anti-veteran practices of
the Trump administration that are making it harder for veterans and
servicemembers to transfer their education benefit and guarantee
veterans’ rights to transfer their G.I. benefit to a child or spouse.
- Pass College for All to make public
colleges and universities tuition free and debt free.
- Ensure access to better jobs and job
training.
- Make it easier to transfer the
skills servicemembers learned during their military service into the
civilian workforce.
- Expand and improve incentives for
companies to hire veterans.
- Increase funding for the Office of
Veterans Business Development in the Small Business Administration.
- Make it easier to transfer the
skills servicemembers learned during their military service into the
civilian workforce.
- Guarantee housing for veterans.
- Guarantee a federal commitment to
Housing First, while also respecting the preferences of certain
veterans to live in housing that meets their unique needs.
- Expand the VA Supportive Housing,
Grant and Per Diem, and Supportive Services for Veteran Families to
serve more veterans, and improve these critical programs to ensure that
all eligible veterans can benefit from this critical program, including
veterans with young families and unique needs, like those fleeing
intimate partner violence or suffering from MST, PTSD or substance use
disorder.
- Make it easier for veterans to use
VA-backed home loans and will make sure these loans don’t wind up in
the hands of unscrupulous mortgage servicers.
- Stop the criminalization of
homelessness and spend nearly $32 billion over five years to end
homelessness.
- This includes doubling
McKinney-Vento homelessness assistance grants to build permanent
supportive housing, and $500 million to provide outreach to homeless
people to help connect them to available services. In the first year of
this plan, 25,000 Housing Trust Fund units will be prioritized for
housing the homeless.
- This includes doubling
McKinney-Vento homelessness assistance grants to build permanent
supportive housing, and $500 million to provide outreach to homeless
people to help connect them to available services. In the first year of
this plan, 25,000 Housing Trust Fund units will be prioritized for
housing the homeless.
- Guarantee a federal commitment to
Housing First, while also respecting the preferences of certain
veterans to live in housing that meets their unique needs.
- Expand the Veterans Outreach Program.
- This innovative program, started in Vermont through legislation initiated by Senator Sanders, hired veterans to provide support to servicemembers and their families before, during and following deployment on everything from health care and benefits to marriage and financial counseling. This effort has been hugely successful in ensuring that veterans, servicemembers and their families can access the resources they have earned to help them live a healthy and productive life.