Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA-05) joined a bipartisan letter, led by Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06), to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs expressing concerns about the VA Recommendations to the Asset and Infrastructure Review (AIR) Commission, which proposed the closure of multiple facilities in southeastern Pennsylvania including in Coatesville and Philadelphia.

“We understand that these recommendations were conducted in accordance with the VA MISSION Act of 2018, which was signed into law before many of us were elected to Congress and before you were appointed to your position,” the lawmakers wrote. “We also realize these are, at the moment, only recommendations to the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission and are not finalized. However, we are extremely concerned about the process for developing these recommendations and their potential impact on the healthcare provided to the veterans we serve.”

They added: “We are also deeply concerned that the recommendations consistently refer to non-VA community providers as having sufficient resources – staff and beds – to accommodate the increase in demand from veterans who currently receive care at the Coatesville VAMC, Philadelphia VAMC, and other community-based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) that the report identified for restructuring or closure. This data was compiled before the COVID pandemic and before multiple medical facilities in Southeastern Pennsylvania announced their closure. We believe that if the same research were done today, it would show drastically less capacity from community providers to adequately provide care to these veterans.”

Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-01), Brendan Boyle (D-PA-02), Dwight Evans (D-PA-03), Madeleine Dean (D-PA-04), and Susan Wild (D-PA-07) also joined the effort.

The full text of the letter can be found  here.