The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has a mission statement as follows, "To fulfill President Lincoln’s promise “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan” by serving and honoring the men and women who are America’s veterans." Based on the conversations with veterans and doctors about the VA; they have failed their mission.

The VA's reputation is dismal in America. Veterans are marginalized, ignored, and dismissed by VA employees who are going through the motions of 'aiding' veterans, but in reality, just collecting their employee paychecks and benefits. It appears the VA is under the 80/20 rule, where 80% of the workload is shouldered by 20% of VA staff who do actually care. Likewise, the other 80% of VA staff is coordinating the paperwork shuffle or handing veterans off to the State of Alaska (SOA), Adult Protective Service (APS). This is completely unacceptable.

I have lost count of the number of veterans, including veteran doctors in private practice, who states the VA is a medical provider disaster. When I mention how VA caseworkers are advising people to contact the SOA APS agency for veterans in need of help, the veteran doctors privately inform me that APS will make the situation 10 times worse, as apparently the VA and APS's relationship and reputation for negligence precedes them. Regardless, the VA has the responsibility to take care of our veterans, and they are not being held accountable and responsible for their mission.

As the U.S. Representative for Alaska, I will get to the bottom of what is going on with the dismal medical care the VA is providing veterans. I will also track down how many veterans are shuffled into the APS agency that should have been taken care of by the VA. Veterans should not feel that suicide is their preferred option due to the fact that the VA is negligent with their care. I aim to address and resolve this. Enough is Enough.