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Dear Neighbor,

In my short life, I have heard people running for public office say they want to change the way our nation is run. While very few actually make a tangible difference, I believe our nation voted for change when we elected President Trump in November. 

During his short time in office, we've seen President Trump follow through with his promises, through legislative action in Congress and executive orders. Since the end of January, I've been sitting on various committees reviewing our nation's budget to rein in spending and ensure funds are allocated properly. In February, the team and I met with several Florida representatives for our National Service Organizations to listen to their legislative proposals on how they believe our federal government can better serve our veterans. 

In March I took my chief of staff and our Director of Military and Veterans Affairs to a meeting with VA Secretary Doug Collins. While there, we spoke about how he and his team intend to improve the VA and ensure it meets or exceeds your expectations. We were tremendously encouraged by our meeting with Secretary Collins and look forward to continuing our important work together. You can take a look below at what we discussed during our meeting.

With all that's happening this new Congress, it is my greatest honor to represent you and hear from you about the issues that matter most. You can read below about what we've been up to this week, and as always, you can stay up to date with us here, on our website, and on X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

For the Republic,

Congresswoman Kat Cammack                                                                                Proudly Representing Florida's Third Congressional District

Meeting With VA Secretary Collins

Last month, our team met with the VA Secretary and learned how services for our veterans deteriorated during the Biden administration. The Secretary shared steps he plans on taking to make things better for our veterans. Additionally, he shared his concern for veterans who live in rural areas. Here are some of the examples of information he's learned during his short time as Secretary that he shared with us during our visit: 

• The VA budget increase grew from $130 billion to $369 billion today.
• The VA has hired 80,000 non-medical staff in the last four years.
• The Biden administration renegotiated AFGE contract before leaving office.
• The claims backlog was 40,000 four years ago and today is 420,000.
• The Secretary assured us that he will publish layoffs by VISN with the breakdown of total layoffs vs. veteran layoffs.
• The Secretary promises to increase Community Care program. He wants to target eligibility towards rural communities and underserved communities, with an increase of 10 percent of health care costs to 20 percent of costs. 
• He is alarmed about the large numbers of overnight stays in community hospitals in Jacksonville. He wants to negotiate an arrangement to move these admissions to the Navy hospital at NAS Jacksonville.
• He wants to focus on providers providing medical services to meet the demand for services while reducing the other demands that detract from the actual practice of medicine.

Coherent Privacy Act Forms (PAFs)

Our team performs a comprehensive intake interview when opening your inquiry. We need our constituents to describe the problem briefly and accurately, along with the ideal outcome for the congressional inquiry or action. Most agencies will briefly read the top sheet, and one-word problems and solutions usually result in an unfavorable response.

PACT Act-Related Claims Grant Rate

As of February 17, 2024, VA has processed more than 1,038,000 PACT Act-related claims, granting 75.2 percent of them and awarding more than $4.28 billion in earned benefits to veterans and survivors. 

Gainesville VFW Post 2811 Ponders Future

Ninety-two-year-old Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2811 was recently contacted by the economic development office of the City of Gainesville and advised that some or all the veteran organization's home may have to make way for a planned development. Under a more detailed proposal sent this week, the post's building may need to be demolished to build a revitalized municipal sports and multi-use park. 

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