With only 28 Congressional workdays left before Election Day, there is limited time left for House and Senate lawmakers to reach a deal on legislation to reform the Veterans Affairs Department, according to a report from The Hill.
In June, both the House and Senate passed legislation seeking to address the issues plaguing the VA. The legislation allows veterans to receive care from private medical providers outside of VA facilities if they live more than 40 miles away from a VA hospital or if they experience long wait times.
The legislation also allows VA executives to be immediately fired without documentation of poor performance reviews. Although executives can be immediately terminated from their positions, the do have a seven-day appeal period.
The bill passed by the Senate and the bill passed by the House contain many similarities. However, lawmakers have not reached an agreement on how to pay for the final costs of the package.
A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Senate plan found it could cost about $50 billion per year, while the House plan would cost at least $44 billion over five years.
The Senate is aiming to have any costs associated with its proposed plan to be added to the deficit, while House Republicans said the legislation's costs should be offset with other spending cuts, according to the report.
"Service members are not allowed to go on leave with some huge, unfinished task, said Alex Nicholson, legislative director for
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