Democratic House Majority Means Oversight, Accountability and Results for Veterans

WASHINGTON–Today, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano (CA-39) released the following statement after Democrats won the House majority:

“This election gives veterans a Congress that will check the executive branch and write good laws at the same time. Committee Democrats spent the 119th Congress doing both from the minority. We gathered 218 signatures on the Major Richard Star Act discharge petition. We flipped Republican votes on a benefits-cutting package until leadership pulled it from the floor. We forced a unanimous vote to authorize subpoenas of Oracle’s leadership. We held 18 shadow hearings and sent hundreds of oversight letters to VA. Imagine what this team can do with a gavel.”

Ranking Member Takano noted that the last time Democrats held the majority, in the 117th Congress, 60 House veterans’ bills became law, including the PACT Act.

Committee Democrats’ priorities for the 120th Congress include:

• Corruption and Contracts. Investigate VA Secretary Doug Collins and political appointee decisions at VA, hold VA contractors accountable, and follow the money, including Electronic Health Record Modernization and Community Care.

• Protect Earned Benefits. Defend the VA home loan program, go after claims sharks who prey on veterans, and strengthen the benefits veterans have earned.

• Healthcare. Expose delays, denials, and network failures in Community Care, and strengthen VA’s direct care system while protecting it from privatization.

• Workforce and Capacity. Scrutinize DOGE actions, staffing cuts, and vacancies that weaken VA’s ability to serve veterans or push care outside the department.

• Honor the Promise. Improve benefits, strengthen the PACT Act, hold VA accountable for the administration’s homelessness commitments, and ensure minority veterans receive equitable care and benefits.

“Veterans have a right to a VA that works, a Congress that checks the executive branch, and leaders who answer when it doesn’t. Beginning in January, they will have a House that fights for that right,” Takano said.

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