Lawmakers to announce tentative deal on bill to overhaul troubled VA

FILE: May 17, 2014: The Department of Veterans Affairs in Phoenix, Ariz.AP

The leaders of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees are planning to unveil a tentative deal on Monday on legislation meant to improve veterans' health care and tackle the litany of scandalous problems at the VA. 

The plan is expected to authorize billions in emergency spending to lease 27 new clinics, hire more doctors and nurses and make it easier for veterans who can't get prompt appointments with VA doctors to obtain outside care. At the heart of the department's problems have been long wait times and falsified records covering up the delays. 

Though talks appeared to be imperiled late last week, Fox News confirms a tentative deal was struck over the weekend between Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. They plan to unveil details at a 1:30 p.m. ET press conference. 

The announcement could quell concerns that Congress would start a five-week summer recess without a legislative solution amid widespread national outrage over problems within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The pair said in a joint statement that they had "made significant progress" toward an agreement on legislation "to make VA more accountable and to help the department recruit more doctors, nurses and other health care professionals."

Eighteen veterans died while on a secret waiting list for care at the VA facility in Phoenix. And an inspector general’s report in May found roughly 1,700 veterans in Phoenix were on the unauthorized list with some waiting as long as 115 days for treatment.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned shortly after the release of the report.

Lawmakers were working through dueling proposals last week. Those proposals would have scaled back separate House- and Senate-passed bills after lawmakers in both parties expressed shock at price tags totaling more than $35 billion. The proposals would still allow veterans to go to private doctors if they face long waits for appointments at VA hospitals and clinics, or if they live more than 40 miles from a VA site. 

The Senate panel made the first move last week, announcing a proposal that would cost about $25 billion over three years to lease new clinics, hire thousands of doctors and nurses and make it easier for veterans to go outside the VA system. 

The proposed price tag was $10 billion less than a bill passed by the Senate last month and nearly $20 billion less than a House-backed measure.

The House panel countered hours later with a proposal that would require only $10 billion in emergency spending, with a promise of more spending in future years under the normal congressional budget process. Miller's bill would keep most of the provisions in the Senate-passed bill and also would authorize about $100 million for the Department of Veterans Affairs to address shortfalls in the current budget year. 

The Obama administration says it needs about $17.6 billion to hire thousands of doctors, nurses and other health professionals, lease new facilities and upgrade its computers to reduce a backlog of veterans awaiting care at VA hospitals and clinics.

The administration's request does not include money to allow more veterans to go to private doctors to avoid long waits for VA care. Expansion of private care was the biggest cost in the bills approved by Congress.

Republicans complained that Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson's budget request was thinly documented.

Miller told Gibson on Thursday he was surprised that such a large request was made in a slim, three-page memo.

The request "makes it very difficult for us to do our job" Miller told Gibson at a hearing of the House veterans' panel.

Gibson said the request reflected his judgment about what the department needs to address current problems.

The VA request includes $8.2 billion to hire 1,500 doctors and thousands of nurses and other medical and mental health professionals; $6 billion for construction projects to improve safety or patient access; $1.2 billion for computer enhancements; and $400 million for more staff to deal with the agency's backlog of benefits claims.