President Barack Obama signed legislation into law Friday that will make dozens of changes to veterans health care, disability and education assistance programs.
The bill, authored in part by U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., sailed through both chambers of Congress unanimously last week as part of the final burst of legislative activity for 2016.
The measure includes scores of provisions from a number of other bills introduced in the House and the Senate over the last two years, including portions of Isakson’s “Veterans First Act.” It would tweak the benefits appeals process for veterans, expand access to benefits for homeless vets and extend education assistance for military widows.
It would also provide more resources to help clear the backlog of veterans claims cases.
The measure sidesteps many of the broader and more contentious changes that slowed debate over Isakson’s initial bill, mainly over how much power to give executives at the scandal-prone Department of Veterans Affairs to discipline bad employees
Isakson, who chairs the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, had to contend with critics on both the right and the left.
One of those detractors was U.S. Sen. John McCain, perhaps Washington’s most famous veteran, who argued the “Veterans First Act” did not have enough teeth to address the VA’s most troubled programs. The Arizona Republican’s opposition slowed much of the momentum Isakson’s bill had this summer.
Overall, veterans’ affairs issues remains one of a dwindling number of bipartisan bright spots on Capitol Hill.
Isakson may not have received everything he wanted in the final compromise, but the two-term Republican said the new bill functions as a “down payment” to the country’s veterans.
“Regardless of political party, we are showing our veterans that we are on the same team when it comes to getting things right for them,” Isakson said.
The measure is a capstone for Isakson’s first two years at the helm of the Senate VA panel. Earlier this year, his committee helped advance into law a bill requiring VA leadership to take more steps to address the veterans’ suicide crisis.
Isaskson said in the new year he plans to focus on reforming the appeals process for veterans benefits claims and bolstering the new federal program that allows vets to seek out private health care rather than traveling to a VA clinic. He’s expected to be selected by his colleagues for another two-year term atop the committee in January.
What’s still unclear is who Isakson will be working with at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The agency’s top spot is one of two Cabinet-level positions President-elect Donald Trump has yet to fill. Names that have been floated include former Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Scott Brown; former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; Pete Hegseth, the ex-chief executive of Concerned Veterans for America; and retiring Congressman Jeff Miller, Isakson’s counterpart on the House VA Committee.
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