Congress reaches tentative VA reform deal

Congressional negotiators have reached a tentative deal to address the ongoing Veterans Affairs scandal.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) have reached a tentative agreement to address the issues with VA patient wait times and falsified records. Sanders and Miller, who are the chairs of their chambers' Veterans Affairs committees, will provide details of the bill at a press conference Monday afternoon.

A deal seemed unlikely on Thursday, with competing bills billions of dollars apart. But a release for Monday's upcoming press conference said that Sanders and Miller "made significant progress on legislation to make the VA more accountable and recruit more doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals." The bill will include "both the short-term and long-term needs of the VA," an aide briefed on the matter told Politico.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The agreement comes after various layers of scandal in the Veterans Affairs Department. In May, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned when reports of falsified records at VA hospitals became public.