Walz Voted Against Trump-Backed Bill That Gave Veterans More Health Care Options

As a congressman, Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz voted against a bill meant to streamline and improve medical treatment for military veterans. 

In 2018, Walz was one of 70 Democrats in the House who voted against the “VA MISSION Act,” which gives veterans the option to get healthcare from a nearby provider and bill the VA if their nearest VA provider was more than 30 minutes away. The law also ensures veterans would be able to get an appointment for primary care, mental health care, and non-institutional extended care services within 20 days of reaching out to the VA.

Despite Walz and other Democrats opposition, the bill passed 347-70 in the House and 92-5 in the Senate. 

“This is truly a historic moment, a historic time for our country,” former President Donald Trump said as he signed the legislation in June 2018. “We’re allowing our veterans to get access to the best medical care available, whether it’s at the VA or at a private provider.”

Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL) told The Daily Wire on Wednesday that the legislation was something that “the veterans’ community had been asking for for decades” and that Trump and a Republican-led Congress got it passed.

“Essentially if the VA can’t give you the service you need, the wait lines are too long or you have to drive too far, you can just go to your doctor and they’ll bill it to the VA. It’s common sense legislation and it’s one of the most popular and consequential pieces that we’ve had and Walz voted against it.”

“He’s going to be at the table of every national security council. Probably one of—if not the only one—with any military experience at all, and he exaggerated what he did. That’s disqualifying in my view.”@michaelgwaltz tells Daily Wire reporter @BrentScher why he was one of 50… pic.twitter.com/okxx3SmLOX

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) August 21, 2024

Waltz said that Tim Walz should be “called to task” for the vote. 

“I would like to think that’s something he regrets,” Waltz said. “He would be eliminating choice from our veterans community and putting all the eggs back in that bureaucracy of the VA that often doesn’t get the job done for our vets.”

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Walz has come under fire for making misleading claims about his service in the National Guard, specifically about misrepresentations about him serving in combat zones. 

On Wednesday, 50 Republican veterans in Congress sent a letter to Walz accusing him of diminishing the service records of other veterans

“You have stated that you are ‘damn proud’ of your service, and like any American veteran, you should be,” they stated. “But there is no honor in lying about the nature of your service. Repeatedly claiming to be a ‘Retired Command Sergeant Major’ when you did not complete the requirements was not honorable,” the letter states.

“Nor was it honorable to claim to carry weapons ‘in war’ when you had not served in war, and abandoning the men and women under your leadership just as they were getting ready to deploy was certainly not honorable either.”