Senator Hassan Highlights Her Bipartisan Law to Boost Veteran Employment During Senate Hearing

WASHINGTON – During a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing, Senator Maggie Hassan discussed her work to support veterans in New Hampshire, including by passing into law her bipartisan bill to boost veteran employment and her successful push to help raise wages for Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) employees in some areas of New Hampshire. In addition, Senator Hassan highlighted the need to improve the infrastructure of the VA Medical Center in Manchester. 

To watch Senator Hassan’s questioning, click here.

First, Senator Hassan highlighted her bipartisan Hire Veteran Health Heroes Act of 2021 – that is now law -- which directs the VA to create a program to recruit military medical personnel who have less than one year left in their service to work in federal health care occupations at the VA.

When Senator Hassan asked about how the program is going, Jessica Bonjorni, Chief Human Capital Management at the Veterans Health Administration, thanked the Senator for the bill and shared that they are working closely with the Department of Defense on its implementation, and she discussed their new physician provider recruiter program, in which the VA goes to military installations to hire transitioning service members.

Senator Hassan also discussed her successful push to help increase pay at rural facilities such as the White River Junction VA Medical Center to better recruit and retain federal employees.

Tracey Therit, Chief Human Capital Officer at the VA, applauded the effort and shared that they are always looking for opportunities to promote the locations where wages are not keeping up with the salaries in the area.

Lastly, Senator Hassan spoke about how VA infrastructure failures in New Hampshire are exacerbating workforce shortages. 

“I frequently hear from Granite State veterans about how much they appreciate their VA nurses, doctors, and caregivers, but far too often, they have to get their care elsewhere because we’ve had real infrastructure… failures,” said Senator Hassan. “The VA Medical Center in Manchester is more than seventy years old, and its facilities are inadequate and frequently fail. Twice in the past year, Manchester VA Medical Center closed portions of its campus because of burst water pipes, and that’s forced veterans to go elsewhere for care and reduced available treatment spaces obviously for clinicians.”

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