No, AOC Doesn’t Ignore Problems in the VA
The Claim
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) said that Department of Veteran’s Affairs – also known as the VA – does not need reform, despite its inefficiency.
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Emerging story
On August 8, 2020, U.S. President Trump signed the Veteran Treatment Court Coordination Act of 2019, expanding special courts nationwide.
The conversation about veterans reinvigorated a claim stemming from April 2019 that AOC ignores problems in the VA.
Misbar’s Analysis
Our investigation found that at one point during a speech, AOC did say, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” in regard to VA reform. The VA has several issues, such as long wait times for disabled veterans.
Many news outlets, such as Fox News and the Washington Examiner, ran this as AOC refusing to acknowledge problems within the VA. However, this quote was taken out of context. In April 2019, Reps. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., held town hall meetings in their respective districts to discuss reform of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA). While AOC did say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” that is not the whole story.
She was instead referring to privatizing the VA, a plan which Reps. Crenshaw and some other Republicans advocate. The “don’t fix it” quote comes from AOC asserting that the VA being government-funded isn’t causing the issue. AOC argued that privatizing the VA would help corporations rather than veterans. Instead, she proposed that that most of the VA’s issues come from a lack of funding. More staff would lead to shorter wait times and more accessible resources. Further cuts to the VA, she states, would lead to further inefficiency. In other words: make the VA better, not for profit.
