Metro East Sun

House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mike Bost (R-Ill.) joined other House Republican leaders to call for an end to the ongoing government shutdown, emphasizing its impact on veterans and servicemembers. Bost was joined by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) in urging Senate Democrats to act.

Bost highlighted that while advance appropriations have allowed the Department of Veterans Affairs to continue providing healthcare and scheduling appointments, other programs are at risk. “First of all, I honestly thank the Speaker and let me tell you this, I believe Secretary Collins and the administration is trying to do everything they possibly can with the money that we actually provided for them through advance [appropriations] for our veterans. And thank heaven we did that. So the health care side and the appointments and everything through our VA from that side is not in jeopardy yet."

He pointed out that some extended services, such as mental health support through the Fox Grant Program and home health care for disabled veterans, are threatened due to expired authorization language. “But let me tell you, the areas that are of concern that we have in the C.R. that we pushed over three weeks ago now, we actually had extenders for certain VA programs that are really important, like the Fox Grant Program, which provides mental health. Through contracts for mental health for many of our veterans – where the suicide rate is still 17 veterans a day.

“Another program that's out there that is concerning is those [veterans] that might be needing home health care. Those are private providers. Now, like I said, Secretary Collins is trying to shift things around. But the authorization language expired on the 1st of October. Folks, this is not a game. It's very, very serious.”

Bost also addressed issues facing veterans' education benefits during the shutdown: “We have concerns we're dealing with with continuing education [benefits], continuing education is starting to fall by the wayside. The concerns that we have with other programs like this, there's about seven of those programs, but those are going to start falling by the wayside. Now, one of the concerns that we're already hearing is the GI Bill.

“Right now, we're hearing rumors that as many of half of the people that [were surveyed and] have a GI Bill, they're not receiving GI Bill payments to their universities. And therefore, when they get on the line to try to call, to make sure that their education will continue and will be paid for, to try and straighten it out [with VA], there's no one there to answer the phones.

“That is a concern day to day. Our veterans are trying to make ends meet day to day. They're trying to hold on to their benefits and day to day they keep hearing these concerns and they're going to continue to get worse. As a veteran and as someone who tries to provide for them, the fear that I have for them is as this goes on, it will only get worse. It's not a game. This [shutdown] affects real people's lives.”

He warned about potential effects on active-duty servicemembers if funding lapses continue past October 15: “And let me tell you this as well, as I watch us coming up on a deadline on [October] 15th, that the first time that our, not only our veterans who are dealing with this but our military personnel, our young enlisted, young enlisted that may have spouses and children that are making it payday-to-payday then payday [comes and] all of a sudden they are trying to figure out while living payday-to-payday but they are going get no pay.

“Let me tell you that's personal to me. That's who I was when I joined United States Marine Corps… And when you saw ‘no pay do’ not everybody's got a parent… Rents still due… Food still has got be put on table… For someone [Chuck Schumer] say hey… ‘It's getting better us every day.’

"It's not getting better for them every day for people standing front line keep freedom nation place… We going continue do job… We did job… We sent Senate… All things talked about were in continuing resolution… It time Democrats quit playing games with those people who claim they're our veterans those serve nation…”

Mike Bost has represented Illinois’s 12th congressional district since 2015 after defeating William L. Enyart in 2014 with 52.5% of votes compared with Enyart’s 41.9%. He continued his electoral success in subsequent elections: winning against Charles Baricevic in 2016 with 54.3%, Raymond Lenzi in 2020 with 60.4%, Brendan Kelly in 2018 with 51.6%, and Chip Markel in 2022 with 75%.