Economic Opportunity Chairman Van Orden: "Over the last year, this Subcommittee has seen VA get in the way of itself and make it harder for veterans to access their earned benefits."

Hearing

"Good morning.

The Subcommittee will come to order.

It is a pleasure to see you all in the hearing room. Over the last four years, the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity has passed legislation that has greatly improved veterans' access to their G.I. Bill benefits and has protected them from fraud and other outside factors.

Much of this legislation was passed under the leadership of my friend and colleague, Ranking Member Levin. I appreciate the Ranking Member and his staff for continuing to work with us in a nonpartisan way as we continue to work on improving the V.A. benefits our Subcommittee has jurisdiction over.

Today our Subcommittee comes together to examine the state of the G.I. Bill and the Education Service. Let me make it clear, I believe that V.A.'s best intention is to serve our nation's veterans. Across the country, V.A. employees work incredibly hard to ensure veterans and their dependents can use the education benefits they earned by defending our country.

However, over the last year, this Subcommittee has also seen V.A. get in the way of itself and make it harder for veterans to access their earned benefits. This is definitely cause for concern. The goal should always be to make it easier to serve veterans.

Last Congress, the House and Senate had to pass an emergency legislative fix for the 85/15 rule because V.A. had altered their interpretation of the statute without telling schools and Congress. If a fix had not been made, thousands of G.I. Bill students would not have been able to use their benefits.

Earlier this year, our Committee sent a letter to the Secretary asking for a delay to the release of Enrollment Manager because V.A. decided to implement it at the beginning of the semester, which is when the majority of schools certify student veterans.

We have heard additional concerns from veterans and schools about how V.A. interprets the section 1015 waiver authority and V.A.'s lack of communication with school certifying officials. This pattern at V.B.A. has become increasingly frustrating for Congress, schools, and the veterans themselves.

V.A.'s most recent example of getting in the way of itself is Risk-Based Surveys. Congress intended for Risk-Based Surveys to be used when V.A. and the State Approving Agency believe there are issues of concern with a particular school.

Unfortunately, V.A. has mandated that a certain number of Risk-Based Surveys be performed, regardless of whether there are issues at that number of schools.

This is completely unnecessary red tape, and not at all the intent of the law when it was passed. Risk-Based Surveys were intended to be used as a tool to review schools providing questionable services to veterans and hold them accountable to the veterans they serve.

I believe that V.A. generally has done good work in the education space. There are many success stories in this area, and we applaud everyone for the work they have done to help veterans achieve an education.

However, we must hold V.A. to the highest standard as well. Congress should not have to continuously be called on to intervene in V.A.'s administration of education benefits, especially when the number of Education Service staff has risen from 75 at the implementation of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill to 231 today. With more people working at V.A. today, there should be a better level of service.

Once again, I thank everyone for coming today. I look forward to a productive discussion on what is going well and what can be improved in the VA education space.

With that, I now yield to the Ranking Member for his opening remarks."

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