WASHINGTON – Both South Dakota Senators have joined a bipartisan bill that would eliminate the VA AIR Commission.
Senator Mike Rounds and Senator John Thune have joined several other senator’s in signing on to the bill which would eliminate the V.A. Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission Act, which is tasked with finding facilities that should be consolidated or realigned.
Thune and Rounds endorsement of the bill is no surprise considering the AIR Commission has recommended a major overhaul of V.A. facilities in South Dakota – particularly the recommended closing of hospitals at Fort Meade and Hot Springs.
Rounds says the AIR Commission process is ‘bad public policy,’ and voted against it when it passed in 2018.
Thune says “the VA’s process of developing its recommendations for the AIR Commission relied on faulty and limited assessments based on data that fails to accurately reflect the current realities of veterans in South Dakota.”
In March, Thune led the South Dakota delegation in sending a letter to V.A. Secretary Denis McDonough upon the release of the VA’s recommendations for the AIR Commission, which, if implemented, would significantly reduce services in Fort Meade and Hot Springs, as well as Sioux Falls, and Wagner.
