{"id":29432,"date":"2026-03-11T10:23:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&p=29432"},"modified":"2026-03-11T10:23:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:23:25","slug":"sen-ossoff-blasts-va-after-proposal-that-would-cut-future-benefits-for-disabled-veterans","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-blasts-va-after-proposal-that-would-cut-future-benefits-for-disabled-veterans\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Ossoff Blasts VA After Proposal That Would Cut Future Benefits for Disabled Veterans\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. <\/strong>\u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is blasting the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) after a proposal that would cut future benefits for disabled veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff, who serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, is seeking answers from VA Secretary Doug Collins following a proposed rule that would have placed benefits for disabled veterans in Georgia and across the nation at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 17, 2026, VA published<\/a> an interim final rule that would have changed the way VA calculated disability benefits for disabled veterans, putting future benefits at risk. The rule would have linked disability benefits to how well veterans respond to medication and treatment \u2014 not based on their original injury, illness, or disease \u2014 potentially forcing veterans to choose between treatment or receiving their benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rule was then abruptly rescinded<\/a> by VA following backlash<\/a>, deepening confusion for Georgia veterans over the future of their benefits and hurting veterans\u2019 trust in VA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe policy you proposed would force veterans to choose between their health and receiving the disability benefits that they have earned,\u201d Sen. Ossoff wrote to VA Secretary Doug Collins.<\/strong> \u201cYou must explain to the nation\u2019s veterans why you understand your proposal was wrong and how you now plan to proceed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff continues working to strengthen veterans\u2019 access to the benefits they\u2019ve earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, Sen. Ossoff requested<\/a> answers about potential risks to patient health and safety as part of his office\u2019s ongoing inquiry into staffing shortages and leadership deficiencies at the Charlie Norwood (VA) Medical Center in Augusta that are severely impacting veterans\u2019 health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also in February, Sen. Ossoff launched<\/a> an inquiry into the status of implementing the Veterans Child Care Assistance Program (VCAP) at Georgia\u2019s VA Medical Centers, a program aimed at making it easier for Georgia veterans to access health care by reducing the difficulty of finding childcare during medical appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December, Sen. Ossoff cosponsored<\/a> the bipartisan Helping Heroes Act<\/em> to expand supportive services for families of disabled veterans, including children taking on caregiving roles for their parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> to read Sen. Ossoff\u2019s full inquiry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

# # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, D.C. \u2014 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is blasting the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) after a proposal that would cut future benefits for disabled veterans. Sen. Ossoff, who serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, is seeking answers from VA Secretary Doug Collins following a proposed rule […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29432","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/29432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/29432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29433,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/29432\/revisions\/29433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}