House Veterans Affairs Committee

Lawmakers say they fear cybersecurity mitigation efforts are taking a backseat to the mounting pile of IT modernization initiatives ongoing at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Senators asked VA for a response to foreign information operations targeting veterans as the House held its first hearing on the issue.

Lawmakers said they still couldn’t recommend the Department of Veterans Affairs’ accountability office as a safe space for whistleblowers, despite VA’s assertions that the organization is slowly improving.

Lawmakers are concerned the Department of Veterans Affairs didn’t do its due diligence in making the decision to adopt a new scheduling system from Cerner, the same contractor both the VA and Pentagon are using to overhaul their electronic health records.

The Department of Veterans Affairs acknowledged it could more strategically target successful recruitment and retention incentives to occupations and medical facilities with the greatest workforce needs. But it also pushed Congress to grant the agency more flexibility in setting market pay for VA medical center directors.

In today’s Federal Newscast, Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) wants the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s inspector general to start an investigation.

Veterans homelessness is down nationwide by 49% since the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs launched an inter-agency partnership on the topic back in 2010, but lawmakers, local housing officials and veterans still see room for improvement.

In today’s Federal Newscast, Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), the head of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, wants all hands on deck to address veteran suicide.

Veterans Affairs says it will spend nearly $5 billion over next 10 years to maintain legacy electronic health record while implementing a separate, multi-billion-dollar system at facilities.

Five years after the 2014 scandal at the Department of Veterans Affairs’s medical center in Phoenix, Arizona, and patient wait times at the agency are still difficult to measure and track.