Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz Statement at the Full Committee Markup of the 2026 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Bill
WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-25), Ranking Member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the full committee markup of the 2026 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Bill:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The MilCon/VA subcommittee maintains our lead off position for Appropriations season as we begin this first full committee markup – I’m glad we’re getting to work, though I think you and I would agree, we’re operating under unprecedented circumstances.
I appreciate Chairman Cole’s emphasis on this being the beginning of the process and the bills we consider will look very different as we progress. And of course, thank you to Ranking Member DeLauro for her leadership as we embark on this appropriations season. I also want to thank the staff of the subcommittee, of the full committee, as well as the personal office staff.
Chairman Carter, I do truly appreciate the work we’ve accomplished together the past few years, and I know we both prioritize providing quality-of-life for our servicemembers and their families and providing the best care possible for our veterans, so it’s with a heavy heart that I am, unfortunately, unable to support this bill as currently written.
To start, this bill hurtles us toward VA privatization, a top Project 2025 priority that undercuts what veterans consistently ask for, which is the high quality medical care at VA.
By transferring record funding from VA medical services to community care, this bill pushes veterans into private care, even though veteran polls and studies show that, when given the option, veterans want to receive their medical care at VA.
In 2024, veteran trust in VA health care rose to a record 92 percent. And we should build on this success, not kick veterans to an already crowded private market.
I understand there’s a need for community care, especially for rural and specialty care.
However, countless studies show that when veterans seek care at private hospitals and clinics, they wait longer to see providers and get worse care. They know VA medical professionals choose this work due to its mission to care for our veterans, and that’s something the private market simply cannot replicate.
We should invest more in VA provider recruitment and retention incentives, increase benefits counselors and adjudicators – not ignore veterans wishes and speed recklessly into privatization.
Second, this bill also lacks guaranteed funding for the PACT Act’s Toxic Exposure Fund, despite an Administration request for it in the President’s Budget.
Last year, this bill included guaranteed advance funding, which I supported because it’s critical to ensure care for toxic exposed veterans is seamless between fiscal years, regardless of shutdowns or CRs.
We promised our veterans with service-connected toxic-exposure illnesses, that we’d ensure they have health care through the VA.
Additionally, this bill fails to hold the Administration accountable for its chaotic and illegal actions over the last few months.
There are no provisions in this bill that requires VA Secretary Collins be held accountable for the mass illegal firings of dedicated VA employees, including critical staff for the veteran’s crisis line.
It took a court to hold this Administration accountable while the Republican led Congress sat on its hands. That’s unacceptable.
And this bill does absolutely nothing to rein in DOGE. I hear from veterans across the country about how DOGE and this Administration’s actions hurt their livelihoods.
One veteran from Paris, Texas wrote to me to say, quote, “I have used the VA Health System for 14 years with hardly any trouble at all...now I can't get approval for appointments, can't phone into my doctor anymore, and this Friday, no one answered any phones in Bonham.”
“I asked the operator if he was worried, and he was. This is all insane.”
Another veteran, from Northeast Ohio said, quote: “I am a veteran that served 11 years active duty and still serve in the Reserves. I was laid off recently with zero notice. I work for a Veteran Owned Small Business that had a contract with the VA for improving safety and developing a High Reliability Organization. My company was decimated by the cancelling of the VA contracts. Hundreds of my co-workers lost their jobs. My life was honestly turned upside down in one day. I'm grieving a deep loss of not only a job of doing work that I truly believed in, but I am grieving the sudden and senseless loss of my community, co-workers, and close friends. I am the main provider for my family, and I worry about my children, home and future. It is a very, very scary world when government work and veteran healthcare system no longer feels safe or stable.”
Trump and Musk’s DOGE did this – without any notice or input from this committee.
This isn’t how we should treat our veterans. So, please, don’t be fooled by the claims that DOGE and this Administration imposed all of these arbitrary firings and layoffs to improve care for our veterans.
The bill fails to address the attempted illegal transfer of $343 million without proper approval from the Committee. The Chairmen and I had to forcefully remind the Secretary that Congressional approval is not a suggestion, it is legally required.
Without provisions to address these abuses and prevent them from occurring again in the future, this committee’s power of the purse is drastically weakened. And it sets a horrible precedent that, I’m quite sure, my Republican colleagues would be outraged over if a Democratic administration behaved in this same way.
On the military construction side, this bill underfunds military construction by $904 million compared to the President’s budget request and fails to fund some specific needs like installation resilience and NATO infrastructure commitments. As Russia continues to wage an illegal war in Ukraine and threaten Europe, we should be sending a clear sign that we stand with our NATO allies, allies who have stood by us for decades.
And we all know that warming global temperatures are having a devastating impact on our military installations – including sea level rise, recurrent flooding, hurricanes and extreme weather, as well as extreme heat and drought.
Yet this bill includes zero dedicated funding to mitigate this extreme weather damage to our installations and force readiness.
We’ve seen time and again what devasting extreme weather can do to installations. In 2018, Hurricane Michael mauled Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, and cost the Air Force $4.9 billion to rebuild. And when Typhoon Marwar ran through Guam and devastated the island, the Air Force estimated that it would cost $4 billion to reconstruct Andersen Air Force Base.
Finally, this bill includes a plethora of harmful poison pill riders.
It once again prohibits the VA from implementing its interim final rule to protect a woman’s right to an abortion and counseling.
This bill also undermines VA’s ability to keep at risk veterans safe by preventing VA from reporting a beneficiary to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
This prohibits VA from following federal law to keep guns out of the hands of people who federal law says should not have them because they are a danger to themselves or others.
My subcommittee receives notifications every time there’s a suicide on VA property. Over the last year, we received suicide notices from Asheville, Los Angeles, McAllen, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, South Texas, Puget Sound, and too many more to name.
Every single veteran committed suicide with a firearm. Every. Single. One.
With all these serious concerns, I cannot in good conscience support this bill.
The subcommittee has a long-standing tradition of bipartisanship, and I truly value my friendship with Chairman Carter, and this makes me sad. I hope we can work through the obstacles and reach a bipartisan agreement, as we have in the past. Know that the words you hear today are not personal, they are personal when it comes to the application to fighting for the quality of life and the ability of our veterans and our servicemembers who are active-duty to have safe infrastructure over their heads, and to make sure that we are prepared for any national security emergency.
I hope that we can work together in good faith going forward to take care of our veterans, servicemembers, and their families in the way they deserve. This bill, sadly, does not yet achieve that. I am hopeful that it will going forward.
Thank you, and I yield back.
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