VHPI's Veterans Day Message
On this Veterans Day, VHPI extends its deepest gratitude to all veterans for their service to our country. While we honor their dedication, we must also acknowledge and address their coming challenges following last week's election. The outcome signals a shifting – and ominous – future landscape for veterans and the strong social safety net they've built over generations. VHPI’s commitment to our fellow veterans and the VA policy landscape has never been stronger.In the coming weeks, VHPI will be discussing how precisely to counter these emerging threats. As we detailed during the campaign, these dangers were explicitly outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 roadmap. That plan proposes significant cuts to (and eventual closing of) many VHA medical center campuses, accelerated siphoning of allocations from VHA facilities to the private sector, and reductions in service-connected disability compensation.The high-quality healthcare and disability benefits for veterans will soon be on the line. It is crucial that, over the next four years, all of us, veteran and non-veteran alike, protect the nation’s largest and most successful healthcare system – the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). We must also protect the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) which ensures that veterans receive every dollar of their earned benefits.In the coming weeks, VHPI will be discussing how precisely to counter these emerging threats. As we detailed during the election campaign, these dangers were explicitly outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 roadmap. That plan proposes significant cuts to (and eventual closure of) many VHA medical center campuses, accelerated siphoning of allocations from VHA facilities to the private sector, and reductions in service-connected disability compensation.VHPI is well equipped to respond to these threats. In October, we launched a social media campaign that educated American veterans about Project 2025’s negative impact on their health care and benefits. Our posts on Facebook and Instagram reached over 70,000 people, and our short video garnered nearly 30,000 views. Four thousand people were inspired to visit the Project 2025 page on the VHPI website to learn more about the perilous veteran-specific policy changes that are part of that plan.In hundreds of comments on our social media posts, many veterans and their loved ones expressed skepticism that Project 2025 would serve as a roadmap for the Trump administration's treatment of veterans’ health and benefits. We wish we shared their confidence that everything will be fine, but the ties between the Project 2025 authors and Trump’s leadership are far too strong to deny. A few commenters noted that our predictions for a second Trump term – namely the underfunding and privatization of veterans' services and a resulting decline in quality – was already taking place under Democratic leadership. Sadly, there is truth to that claim. Though we anticipate that things will get orders-of-magnitude worse under Trump, those of us at VHPI have always understood that there is a need to push decision makers on both sides of the aisle to do more to protect and improve the VA. With unprecedented Project 2025 changes looming, we approach these challenges with feelings of hope and plans of action. The VHA isn't just a healthcare system for veterans, it's a national asset that benefits all Americans. We invite you to join us in protecting and strengthening this vital institution. Together, we can ensure that our nation keeps its promises to those who have served.