— Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Mark Takano (CA-D) was joined by House and Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Members in welcoming veterans to Capitol Hill for the third and final annual, bicameral, bipartisan Veterans Service Organization (VSO) hearing of 2026.
Ranking Member Takano opened the hearing by highlighting the impacts of this Administration’s efforts to do more with less.
“The data suggests VA is already struggling with less. The New York Times repor… Read More
—Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Mark Takano (CA-D) was joined by House and Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Members in welcoming veterans to Capitol Hill for the second of 2026’s annual, bicameral, bipartisan Veterans Service Organization (VSO) hearings.
The first panel of the day featured witnesses from Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), including VFW Commander-in-Chief Carol Whitmore. Ranking Member Takano began by thanking the VSOs in attendance, recognizing the… Read More
—Today, House Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano issued the following statement in response to military action against Iran:
“Less than two weeks ago, this administration attempted a $23 billion rollback of veterans’ benefits through its Interim Final Rule while advancing a VHA reorganization that would shrink staff and healthcare capacity. Now it has committed the United States to a new war with Iran.
President Trump ran on ending wars. Instead, from Mar-a-Lago, he launche… Read More
VA's "GI Bill College Comparison Tool" - https://www.vets.gov/gi-bill-comparison-tool
DoE's "College Scorecard" - https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/
Veteran Education Success Top Ten Tips for student veterans - https://veteranseducationsuccess.org/top-ten-tips/
American Association of Community Colleges' reliable, non-profit, community college search engine - https://www.aacc.nche.edu/Pages/CCFinder.aspx… Read More
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced today that it plans to propose expanded disability compensation eligibility for Veterans exposed to contaminated drinking water while assigned to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
From 1953 to 1987, water sources at the base were contaminated with industrial solvents that are correlated with certain health conditions. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert A. McDonald decided to propose presumptions of service connection for certain conditions as… Read More
The unemployment rate for veterans dropped to a seven-year low in August, and the rate for Iraq and Afghanistan war-era veterans fell to the lowest level since federal officials started tracking that population.
The news came the same day that Bureau of Labor Statistics officials announced the national unemployment rate in August had dropped to its lowest level since 2008, before President Obama took office.
Analysts have cautioned against making long-term assumptions based on the monthly … Read More
