Blumenthal Statement on House Republican Failure to Advance the Take Care of America's Veterans Act

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member, today released a statement following House Republicans decision to pull a planned vote on the Take Care of America's Veterans Act-legislation that includes a Republican proposal to cut benefits for nearly a million veterans currently eligible to receive disability benefits for tinnitus and sleep apnea. This decision immediately followed a House vote to replace the Republican benefit cuts with a Democrat proposal to utilize unobligated Department of Defense funds that gained bipartisan support.

"It is clear Republicans do not have the support they need to pass the Take Care of America's Veterans Act because of their unacceptable and unconscionable proposal to cut benefits for disabled veterans. It is equally clear there is bipartisan momentum behind the Blumenthal-Takano proposal to use unobligated and unspent Department of Defense funds to cover the costs of this bill. There are other viable ways to pay for this legislation, and Republican leaders must now come to the table to engage in meaningful bipartisan discussions about the path forward."

Three House Republicans voted with 207 House Democrats in favor of a motion to recommit the Take Care of America's Veterans Act. If this procedural vote was successful, it would have replaced the Republican proposal to cut veterans' benefits with Blumenthal and House Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano's alternative proposal to cover the costs of the legislation with a small portion of the nearly $100 billion in unobligated and unspent funds appropriated to the Department of Defense in H.R. 1.

Congressional Democrats and many Veterans Service Organizations have publicly opposed the Republican funding proposal included in the Take Care of America's Veterans Act. Last month, Blumenthal and 46 Senate Democrats communicated their opposition to this offset in a letter to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Doug Collins - a clear and public affirmation the Republican proposal does not have the support it needs to clear the Senate.

Yesterday, Blumenthal and Takano co-authored an op-ed in FOX News, raising concern with the Republican proposal to pay for the Take Care of America's Veterans Act. The leaders called into question Republicans' insistence of including these cuts to veterans' benefits, despite not requiring an offset for the $3.4 trillion they spent to deliver tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" last summer. The leaders also floated two compromise offsets that would not cut veterans' benefits.

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