Mark R. Warner

Veterans

Ensuring that our active duty military, veterans, and their families receive the benefits they have earned and deserve remains one of Senator Warner’s top priorities. Virginia is home to more than 800,000 military veterans, one of the highest per-capita populations of veterans in the country, and Senator Warner is committed to honoring their service.

Senator Warner has fought to reduce the Department of Veterans Administration’s backlog, fix issues at VA health care centers, protect military commissaries, and improve mental health services for our soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Senator Warner's Progress:

• Senators Warner and Kaine co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to ensure thousands of Navy veterans from the Vietnam War, known as "Blue Water" veterans for their service in waters off the coast, who were exposed to the powerful toxin Agent Orange will be eligible to receive disability and health care benefits they have earned for diseases linked to Agent Orange exposure.

• Senator Warner raised a number of concerns about the implementation of the Veterans Choice Program, which was intended to allow veterans to access non-VA care if they live more than 40 miles from a VA facility. Senator Warner and a bipartisan group of colleagues successfully urged the VA to revise the 40-mile eligibility rule for the Veterans Choice program by measuring driving distance between a veteran’s home and the nearest VA medical center, instead of the “as the crow flies” definition.

• The President signed into law bipartisan legislation to reform the V-A following reports of falsified scheduling records and severe treatment delays. The law includes Senator Warner’s initiative to enlist assistance from private sector technology experts to help fix the VA’s broken scheduling system, at no cost to taxpayers.

• Following reports that the Hampton V-A had among the worst wait times in the country, Senator Warner repeatedly visited the facility in order to ensure that veterans in the Hampton Roads region have access to the quality care they deserve in a timely fashion. 

• Senator Warner has championed the College of William and Mary Law School’s Puller Veterans Benefits Clinic which dramatically speeds up processing time for disability claims and helps reduce the VA’s backlog at no cost to taxpayers. The Puller Clinic has been certified by the VA as a national “best practice” program, and the American Bar Association House of Delegates has called for the continued adoption of these clinics nationwide.

• Senators Warner and Kaine called for action to protect servicemembers from abusive debt collection practices. In response, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ordered a Virginia-based business to refund $350,000 to consumers.

• Senator Warner introduced bipartisan legislation to protect military commissaries from having their funding arbitrarily cut.  Cutting commissary benefits would disproportionately affect young military families.

• Senator Warner made sure female veterans would receive PTSD treatment; before his involvement they were often turned away from receiving services.  In 2009, Senator Warner amended a defense appropriations bill to direct the VA inspector general to examine the gender differences in the prevalence and diagnosis of PTSD, traumatic brain injury and other combat-related conditions. The study, released in mid-December 2010, found that its policies were outdated and in 2011, the VA changed its policy.

• Senator Warner has launched initiatives to help veterans obtain jobs through workforce training programs and networking events.

• After reports surfaced of lost and misplaced remains of soldiers due to technology challenges at Arlington National Cemetery, Senator Warner brokered the pro-bono assistance of the Northern Virginia Technology Council to assess and recommend solutions, at no cost to the taxpayers.

• Senator Warner called for an end to the unofficial practice of reserving gravesites for VIPs at Arlington National Cemetery. Senator Warner believes this practice is disrespectful and inappropriate, and that every fallen member of our Armed Forces deserves to be properly honored.

• Senator Warner’s Veterans' Corps component to expand service opportunities and fellowships for our nation's military veterans, was signed into law as part of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.