To fully fund programs for veterans, service members, and their families, Congress must:

• Reform the dysfunctional federal budget process.
• Authorize VA to receive reimbursements from TRICARE and Medicare.
• Never reduce one veteran’s benefits to pay for another.

To ensure veterans and their survivors have timely access to earned benefits, Congress and VA must: 

• Properly implement comprehensive toxic exposure legislation.
• Review and assess military toxic exposures and ensure health care and benefits are provided to all toxic-exposed veterans.
• Consider treatment of presumptive conditions as a claim for disability compensation.
• Properly implement the modernized appeals process.
• Reinstate pre-decisional review authority for claims representatives prior to final rating decisions.
• Require VA to accept private medical evidence in lieu of VA examinations.
• Update regulations and laws governing claims to account for digital claims processing.
• Improve the accuracy of disability compensation claims related to military sexual trauma.
• Crack down on predatory claims providers.
• Increase Dependency and Indemnity Compensation benefits for survivors.
• Increase burial allowances to account for inflation. 

To ensure veterans succeed after leaving military service, Congress, VA, DOD and DOL must:

• Conduct oversight of transition assistance program pathways, timely attendance, and connections to community transition resources.
• Ensure equal access to pre-discharge claims assistance across the services.
• Mandate the inclusion of accredited representatives in transition assistance briefings.
• Expand transition services for spouses.
• Ensure parity of VA and DOD education programs with other federal programs.
• Improve education benefits through increased online student housing allowances, child care stipends, parity for Guard and Reserve members, and elimination of delimiting dates.
• Enhance outreach and counseling to veterans eligible for the Veteran Readiness and Employment program.
• Expand small business and entrepreneurship resources for veterans and military spouses.
• Expand preferences and tax incentives for hiring veterans and military spouses.
• Fund and track outcomes for career-focused training programs.
• Increase funding for HUD-VASH vouchers, grant and per diem payments, and pilot programs to combat veteran homelessness.

To ensure service members and veterans receive timely access to high-quality health care without increasing cost shares, Congress, VA and DOD must:

• Reduce the number of service members and veterans who die by suicide to zero.
• Strengthen care and research for mental health and traumatic brain injuries.
• Research and effectively treat health conditions associated with toxic exposures.
• Expand geriatric extended care services, nursing home eligibility, and long-term care options.
• Improve VA’s prescribing and deprescribing practices.
• Improve programs and services for women and minority veterans.
• Eliminate copayment requirements for preventive health care, including medications.
• Research the efficacy of medical cannabis.
• Properly implement VA and DOD health IT systems.
• Ensure Affordable Care Act parity and access for VA and TRICARE users.

To maintain a quality, comprehensive benefits and retirement package that is the backbone for an all-volunteer force, Congress and DOD must:

• Eliminate sexual assault and harassment from the military.
• Increase military base pay comparability with private sector wages.
• Protect and improve on-base quality of life and support programs.
• Eliminate forced arbitration clauses in contracts for service members.
• Ensure that military housing is safe and free of toxic substances.
• End the military retirement pay and VA disability compensation offset.
• Ensure military family members are gainfully employed.
• Eliminate food insecurity in the military.
• Establish the Armed Forces University.
• Ensure equity of benefits for Reserve component service members.

To fully support service members, and protect our nation’s citizens and interests around the world, Congress and DOD must:

• Preserve the all-volunteer force.
• Expand partnerships with host nations and private/public organizations to achieve the fullest possible accounting of U.S. military personnel missing from all wars.
• Ensure DPAA is fully funded to perform its personnel recovery mission.