Hot Springs Campus Again Part of VA Budget Requests
Lease of buildings, CBOC funds listed
HOT SPRINGS Several items in the fiscal year 2016 budget request for the Department of Veterans Affairs have outraged members of the local Save the VA Committee, as well as elected officials in the nations capital.
Similar to a Veterans Administration budget request for fiscal year 2014, the nearly 900-page Strategic Capital Investment Planning (SCIP) document for VA funding in fiscal year 2016 mentions the Hot Springs VA campus extensively.
The FY2016 budget request includes many of Hot Springs VA Campuss buildings being a part of the VAs enhanced-use lease program. The 2016 SCIP also shows a $2,450,000 line item request, to lease space for a Community Based Outpatient Clinic, or CBOC, for Hot Springs.
Pat Russell, chairman of the Hot Springs Save the VA Committee, released a statement last Friday, noting that the local group believes that the inclusion in the VA Budget request is a violation of legislation approved in 2014
The Hot Springs Save the VA Committee feels the Veterans Administration is ignoring the law of the Fiscal Year 2015 Omnibus Bill, signed on December 16, 2014, read Russells statement. Which states, None of the funds in this or any other Act may be used to close Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals, domiciliaries, or clinics or to healthcare services at existing Veterans Health Administration medical facilities located in Veterans Integrated Service Network 23 as part of a planned realignment of VA services until the Secretary provides to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress a report including several elements.
Among the elements that Russell references in the release is a clear and detailed realignment strategy, justification for the realignment and a cost/benefit analysis of any changes to healthcare for veterans and the effect of the proposed changes to veterans themselves.
Time and time and time again, the VA has assured me that they did not enter into the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) with a predetermined outcome, said Representative Kristi Noem via e-mail last week. I dont know if they were purposely trying to deceive us or if they somehow didnt know where the administration stood, but the Presidents FY2016 budget request completely invalidates the assurances theyve made to me, our veterans, and the people of Hot Springs.
In January of 2014, then-Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki ordered an Environmental Impact Statement be created, a necessary step for any federal agency that wishes to close a facility as he announced that he planned to move forward with a 2011 proposal to reconfigure veterans healthcare in the region, including closing the Hot Springs VA Medical Center and moving the Hot Springs Substance Abuse and PTSD Treatment programs to Rapid City.
From the announcement of the proposal in 2011, the VA administration has repeatedly denied that there was not a pre-determined outcome for the Hot Springs VA and has said that no final decision would be rendered until the EIS process was completed.
In 2013, then-S.D. Senator Tim Johnson, who chaired the Senate VA Appropriations Committee challenged Shinseki, over a FY2014 request for $9.9 million to be used to lease space in Rapid City. Shinseki quickly noted that the request was a mistake and should not have been mentioned.
No such response has been heard from current Secretary Bob McDonald over the listing in this years VA budget. An answer to e-mails sent to Sec. McDonald, requesting comment, were not received prior to the Star going to press.
The Hot Springs community, area veterans and concerned stakeholders have been reassured multiple times from the highest officials at the VA that the EIS would be conducted without bias and no decision would be made prematurely, said Senator Mike Rounds. It is hard to believe that there is no bias of plans when proposals are being introduced to begin closing the hospital without a finished EIS.
Senator John Thune laid blame at the feet of the current administration.
Its unacceptable that the Obama administration has apparently made up its mind about Hot Springs, Thune said, despite numerous questions that have gone unanswered for several years and empty promises that it would work with stakeholders. The presidents budget request is a direct contradiction of the VAs assurances to our veterans that a decision is yet to be made.
Russell said that the Save the VA continues to work with other stakeholders to identify and discuss alternatives to the VAs original proposal, as the final conclusions of the Environmental Impact Statement under the National Environmental Policy act and the National Historic Preservation Act are still being discussed and developed.
Save the VA believes that the VA cannot legally request funds in their SCIP report for a project that has not been approved, Russell wrote, when the law states that the Secretary will provide to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress these reports. Including funding requests for the VAs proposal in the 2016 SCIP report shows contempt for Congress and a disregard for the health and safety of our veterans. Our congressional delegation, Veterans Service Organizations and outraged citizens should speak up and put a stop to the VAs flagrant disregard for the law.
Noem is on board, adding We deserve a fair and unbiased EIS process, but this budget proposal shows that the VA has fundamentally failed to act in good faith and come to the table without preconceived notions. I am thoroughly appalled and I will be exploring my legislative options to hold the VA to its word and fight back against a broken bureaucracy.
Tags: Veterans News
