House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was forced to pull a veterans bill from the House floor on Thursday after three GOP rebels sided with Democrats to amend the measure and block cuts to disability compensation for tinnitus and sleep apnea.
Reps. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), and Max Miller (R-OH) joined Democrats trying to amend the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act to strike the cuts. Even if the cuts were successfully stripped from the bill, Veterans Affairs could still go through with them on the administrative side, as they are in the final stages of working out the cuts.
“The VA bill cannot cut future ratings for certain veteran benefits,” Luna, an Air Force veteran, wrote on X after the bill was pulled. “Why would we cut Veteran benefits as a pay for? That isn’t the case for ANY other funding that we are currently trying to pass out of the house? The good news about legislation is it can be edited and changed.”
Given the narrow House majority, Johnson could only afford four defections. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) initially sided with Democrats in favor of striking the cuts, but changed her vote at the last minute. The legislation now stands in limbo, and it’s uncertain when it could gain further consideration.
Lawmakers who supported the VA bill expressed their frustration on the House floor, with one yelling someone was “pissing me off.”
The cuts to disability compensation for tinnitus and sleep apnea are already on a path to be enacted, with the savings set to go back to the Treasury Department.
“The good simply DOES NOT outweigh the bad when it comes to the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act,” Disabled American Veterans wrote on X. “The bill would cut up to $57 billion in future disability compensation for 1.5 million veterans but provides only $7.9 billion in new VA benefits, just 14%. That’s a terrible deal for disabled veterans!”
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Those in favor of the cuts argue the bill “modernizes” the VA disability system.
“The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act Delivers on the promise we have made to put veterans – not big government – back in charge,” House Committee on Veterans Affairs Chairman Mike Bost (R-IL) wrote earlier this week. “The bill builds on the CHOICE Act and the MISSION Act to expand vitally important healthcare access so they can get the best healthcare – close to home, and without delay.