Landrieu: SW La. Clinics Included in Vets Bill to be Considered by Senate & House Next Week

Press Release

After writing yesterday to the members of the House and Senate who have been working to craft a comprehensive, compromise veterans bill, U.S. Senator Mary L. Landrieu, D-La., today announced that the authorization to construct the two Southwest Louisiana VA Clinics and 25 others in 17 states has been included in the deal that has been reached. The two clinics in Lafayette and Lake Charles have been delayed for more than four years.

"For four years, 20,000 veterans in Southwest Louisiana have waited for the quality and convenient health care they were promised. Including a green light for these two Southwest Louisiana clinics in the compromise bill that the Senate and House will consider next week shows that we intend to keep the promises we have made to our veterans," Sen. Landrieu said. "Our veterans deserve their representatives to continue the teamwork that has gotten the clinics this far, and they deserve our support of this legislation next week."

Last month, Sen. Landrieu's provision to allow veterans to receive care from local hospitals and health providers until the two clinics are built passed the Senate Appropriations Committee as part of the annual bill to fund Military Construction and Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2015.

In September 2012, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) changed its characterization of Major Medical Facility leases, requiring the Veterans Administration to pay for a full 20 years of rent upfront for health clinics. While the leases would have normally cost just more than $126 million, they are now scored at almost $1.4 billion. Due to these costs, 27 clinics across the country could not be authorized in fiscal year 2013, including clinics in Lake Charles and Lafayette.

Since then, Sen. Landrieu and Rep. Boustany have partnered to pass legislation and find solutions to construct the two clinics in Southwest Louisiana. In February, procedural hurdles prevented the Senate from moving the Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act forward that would have green-lighted the clinics. Earlier this year, Sen. Landrieu and Rep. Boustany led an effort of the entire Louisiana congressional delegation to demand answers from the Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki on the delayed completion of the two veterans' clinics in Southwest Louisiana.

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