December 07, 2017

Ranking Member Walz Responds To Trump Administration Attack On Programs Combating Veteran Homelessness

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Tim Walz (D-MN), released the following statement in response to news reports that the Trump Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) planned to end a $460 million program that had successfully reduced the number of veterans experiencing homelessness by over 50% since 2010. After outcry from Housing and Urban Development (HUD) officials, lawmakers, and advocacy groups for veterans and the homeless, VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin released a statement killing the plan.

“The fact the Trump Administration planned to slash a program that had successfully reduced the number of veterans experiencing homelessness by over 50% since 2010 is heartless and unconscionable,” said Rep. Tim Walz, the highest ranking enlisted servicemember ever to serve in Congress. “The fact they planned to do so behind the backs of America’s veterans at a time when veteran homelessness across the country is on the rise for the first time in nearly a decade makes this unimaginably cruel.”

“This is not the first time President Trump and Secretary Shulkin have planned sweeping policy changes behind the backs of our nation’s veterans and without the consent of Congress. There are clear parallels between this and the situation three weeks ago when it was discovered White House and VA officials were working together behind closed doors on a plan to merge the VA Choice program with the Department of Defense’s Tricare program, an idea that has long been on the Koch Brothers’ wish list, only to back pedal once they were exposed in the media.”

“Mr. Secretary, in your carefully worded press statement yesterday, you said VA will not use funds currently appropriated for homeless programs to fund the Choice program, but you failed to say whether or not that money would be used to fund other projects. Mr. Secretary, the confidence of America’s veterans has been shaken and they deserve clear and unequivocal answers immediately.”

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