CHARLESTON — A federal commission that threatened to close Veterans Affairs medical centers in West Virginia has “died by its own weight,” Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said Monday.
Manchin was part of a group of 12 senators, including Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who opposed the formation of a commission that would recommend and implement changes to VA medical centers throughout the country based on a bill Congress adopted in 2018.
The commission was scratched after Manchin worked with Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman John Tester, D-Mont., to prevent U.S. Senate from considering the would-be committee appointees. Manchin is a member of that committee.
“We fought it,” Manchin said during a news conference in front of the Gold Star Families Memorial at the West Virginia State Capitol. “It was something worth fighting for.”
Without the Senate’s approval of the nominees, no commission will be established and the process as outlined in the 2018 VA Mission Act will not move forward, according to a news release from Capito.
Manchin and 11 other senators previously introduced a bill that would have eliminated the commission that was meant to approve a report that made recommendations to “modernize facilities and realign priorities” within the veteran health care system.
The recommendations particularly would have affected VA health care centers in rural parts of the country, Manchin said.
In West Virginia, the VA medical centers in Huntington, Beckley, and Clarksburg were most likely to be affected, likely outsourcing veteran health care services to other non-VA hospitals.
The report was part of the VA Mission Act, passed by Congress in 2018.
The law required the Department of Veterans Affairs to research, develop and publish a list of recommendations intended to modernize VA medical facilities and health care delivery — including through facility expansions, relocations, closures or changes in services, and the commission, referred to as the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission, would have reviewed the recommendations and facilitated Congressional action.
Capito said the recommendations made to the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission weren’t reflective of the goal of “expanding and strengthening modern VA infrastructure in a way that upholds our obligations to America’s veterans.”
“The Commission is not necessary for our continued push to invest in VA health infrastructure, and together we remain dedicated to providing the (Department of Veterans Affairs) with the resources and tools it needs to continue delivering quality care and earned services to veterans in 21st century facilities — now and into the future,” Capito said.
In addition to Manchin, Capito, and Tester, senators who worked to block the commission were Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., John Thune, R-S.D., Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Patty Murray, D-Wash., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio.