Press Releases

WASHINGTON – On the heels of Memorial Day, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) sent a letter to the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure urging the committee to approve the resolution granting the medical leases for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers in Sussex County, Delaware and Southern New Jersey as called for in President Biden’s budget for FY2024.

“As we strive to enhance and expand the resources available to the over 18 million veterans residing in the United States, we urge you to follow the recent actions of the House Veterans Affairs Committee in passing a resolution approving the 10 major U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical leases that were listed in the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2024,” the lawmakers wrote.

“The President’s Budget request for these medical leases outlines a necessity to modernize and expand the capacity of facilities crucial to the needs of veterans in the various requested regions. These facilities provide a wide range of services, reduce the workload for the larger VA medical centers they are connected to, and increase access to health and well-being services for veterans, especially when located in rural areas that rely primarily on the VA for health care…We have an obligation to support the brave servicemembers who sacrificed for our country, and their families. We will continue to fight to protect veterans and improve access for this population to life-saving research, community living, and health care,” the lawmakers continued.

With an estimated more than 68,000 veterans living in Delaware, a larger, modernized, and well-staffed VA medical center, especially one that reaches Delaware’s rural communities in Sussex County, is needed to administer quality care to servicemembers and veterans across the First State.

Blunt Rochester has long been an advocate for supporting our servicemembers and veterans. She helped lead the charge alongside U.S. Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons (both D-Del.) to procure federal funding for a new blood processing center at the Dover Air Force Base as well as funding for a new Fuel Cell and Corrosion Hangar for the Delaware Air National Guard. Additionally, Blunt Rochester introduced the bipartisan Veterans’ Culturally Competent Care Act last Congress, legislation to require that veterans receive culturally competent, evidence-based mental health treatment from private providers, as is already required of VA mental health providers.

The full letter is below and here.

May 28, 2024

Dear Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Larsen:

As we strive to enhance and expand the resources available to the over 18 million veterans residing in the United States, we urge you to follow the recent actions of the House Veterans Affairs Committee in passing a resolution approving the 10 major U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical leases that were listed in the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2024. These leases cover facilities for research, community living centers, outpatient clinics, and hospitals in regions in South Carolina, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, and our respective home states of Delaware and New Jersey.

The President’s Budget request for these medical leases outlines a necessity to modernize and expand the capacity of facilities crucial to the needs of veterans in the various requested regions. These facilities provide a wide range of services, reduce the workload for the larger VA medical centers they are connected to, and increase access to health and well-being services for veterans, especially when located in rural areas that rely primarily on the VA for health care. Additionally, as most VA facilities are more than 50 years old, or five times older than the average building for non-profit hospitals, leasing projects like these can ensure the VA has the modern facilities needed to continue providing the high-quality health care that veterans expect and deserve.

Two major medical leases detailed in the President’s Budget were for hospital leases in Sussex County, Delaware and Southern New Jersey to significantly expand high-quality care in these mostly rural locations that are experiencing growth in the veteran population.

These hospital leases in Sussex County and Southern New Jersey would allow for a decompression of the larger Wilmington Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Wilmington, Delaware, and enhance inpatient and outpatient services by closing space gaps identified in the Strategic Capital Investment Planning (SCIP) process. The new leases would also expand the current primary care spaces, thus improving operational efficiencies, and enhancing the overall Veteran experience. The leases represent right-sized, state-of-the-art, energy-efficient health care facilities that would provide primary care, mental health, specialty care, inpatient medicine, and ancillary services to veterans. Further, Sussex County, Delaware and Southern New Jersey are highly rural areas, and the facilities would serve thousands of veterans across the Delmarva Peninsula and New Jersey.

As the Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure has jurisdiction over the General Services Administration (GSA), which the VA needs to delegate leasing authority to solicit, award, and obligate funding for these leases, the Committee is pivotal to the success of this effort to expand resources to veterans across the United States, including our districts.

We have an obligation to support the brave servicemembers who sacrificed for our country, and their families. We will continue to fight to protect veterans and improve access for this population to life-saving research, community living, and health care.

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Sincerely,

Lisa Blunt Rochester

Member of Congress

Jefferson Van Drew

Member of Congress

###