Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 5114 - Veterans' Health-Care Programs Amendments of 1988

(House)
(Montgomery (D) Mississippi and five others)

The Administration has no objection to House passage of H.R. 5114, but will work with the Senate to have various provisions modified or deleted from the bill. The most objectionable provisions contained in H.R. 5114 include:

—    authorizing an unwarranted across-the-board special pay authority for registered nurses. This approach would be very costly (up to $417.5 million during FYs 1989-1993) and inefficient as a way of helping VA meet its needs for recruiting and retaining registered nurses. VA's staffing problem with registered nurses exists predominantly in metropolitan areas. Under current law, VA has already established special pay rates at 115 facilities where it is experiencing varying degrees of staffing difficulties for registered nurses, and is providing special scholarship and tuition reimbursement programs.

—    rescinding VA's recent regulation regarding contract nursing home care to nonservice-connected disabled veterans. H.R. 5114 would have the effect of restoring old regulations, which did not include well-defined criteria for granting extensions, and permitted virtually unlimited extensions of care. Enactment of this provision would result in substantial additional costs to the program, thereby making fewer resources available for other uses.

—    authorizing the provision of VA health care to Department of Defense (DOD) dependents at VA facilities under VA/DOD sharing agreements. Currently, the Administration does not favor VA treatment of DOD dependents. However, VA and DOD will be giving this matter further review within the next year. Changing the current sharing law is inappropriate until this review is completed.

—    excluding from VA personnel ceiling controls personnel employed to provide services to DOD under VA/DOD sharing agreements. Such an exclusion is not necessary to provide an incentive for VA/DOD sharing, and unwisely removes from ceiling controls employees whose salaries are paid out of appropriated funds.

—    preventing the VA from contracting out Veterans Canteen Service (VCS) functions, thereby depriving VA of the flexibility necessary to operate the VCS according to its needs, either with VCS employees or by utilizing contractors, and eliminating any efficiencies or economies gained from existing contracts.