The Truth About President Trump’s Veteran’s Affairs

One of the best parts of my job is visiting Veterans Affairs employees across the country — those who are delivering care to Veterans more effectively than ever before, while also getting to know the families we’re helping every day. But it’s always a shock when I return to Washington and meet with certain lawmakers who refuse to acknowledge the truth about the historic reforms we’ve made.

Last month, I testified multiple times before Congress and heard from a number of lawmakers who were loaded up with talking points and fictions about VA’s failures. But here’s the truth they just can’t accept: VA has never worked so efficiently. That’s backed up by both hard data and anecdote (what I’ve seen on the ground after visiting 34 states and more than 110 VA facilities).

Indeed, this wasn’t always the case. When I arrived at VA in February 2025, it needed serious reform. For too long, VA measured success by how much money it spent and how many people it employed — not by how well it served Veterans. That’s why under the Biden Administration, VA staffing increased 14%, even though patient encounters increased by just 6%.

Under President Donald Trump’s leadership, that’s all changing. At VA today, the Veteran is the mission, and the mission is the Veteran. It’s that simple. We have the numbers to prove it.

Under Biden, the backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits increased by 24%. Under Trump, we’ve cut that backlog by 72%, and just this year, this backlog fell below 100,000 for the first time since 2020.

VA is processing millions of claims at record pace, faster than at any point in VA’s history, and processed a record three million claims in fiscal year 2025.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced in May that 78% of VA hospitals that received an Overall Hospital Quality rating scored either four or five stars, another record.

As of early June, VA had enrolled more than 160,000 new Veterans in VA health care in 2026.

We’ve opened 36 new health care clinics during the second Trump Administration, making it easier for Veterans to access their VA health care benefits.

Since Jan. 20, 2025, VA has offered Veterans more than 2.8 million appointments outside of normal operating hours, which means more timely and convenient options for the Veterans we serve.

This fiscal year, VA will spend nearly $5 billion to modernize, repair and improve VA health care facilities – that’s the largest non-recurring maintenance investment in VA’s history.

These measurable improvements mean Veterans all across the country are getting the care and benefits their country promised them, with more quality and convenience than ever before. Back in Washington, lawmakers get to make up their own stories about how nothing works at VA, and that’s a shame for three crucial reasons. First: It’s false. Second: That sort of talk will only discourage Veterans from getting help from VA. And finally: It’s a constant motivational drain on our more than 400,000 employees who do great work every day.

Last month, I told senators that enough is enough. We have the best employees anyone could ask for, and they deliver results that I’m proud of, even if some in Washington insist on pretending otherwise.

But even our loudest critics in Congress can’t keep the truth bottled up forever. No matter how hard they try to paint a bleak picture about VA, even they are forced to admit once in a while that VA is doing better than ever before.

That happened in April, when Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, wrote to The Washington Post, saying “Are veterans better off because of the historic investments made in their care and benefits? The answer is a resounding yes.” He continued, “Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs is providing more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before.”

It’s a start. But we’re going to keep working until everyone recognizes that truth.