Rounds Receives Assurances that Decision on Hot Springs is not Predetermined

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), a member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, today received assurances from U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald that the agency has not made any premature decisions regarding the Hot Springs VA hospital.

Rounds asked: Would you be able to assure the committee that the SCIP items in the Fiscal Year 2016 budget request regarding the Black Hills Health Care System are not an indication of a predetermined decision for the Hot Springs Hospital?

McDonald assured: There’s no indication of any decision being made at Hot Springs. I have made no decision. We’re still collecting data, and the study is still being done.

Full video of the exchange is available HERE. 

Yesterday, the delegation met with Sec. McDonald after the administration’s 2016 budget request proposed measures to close Hot Springs VA facilities, despite previous assurances that the VA would not act without finishing a fair and thorough Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). That prompted a delegation letter urging Sec. McDonald to withdraw all plans to reconfigure the Black Hills Health Care System from the Obama Administration’s budget proposal. Sec. McDonald has made a personal commitment to Rounds to continue to work with the delegation on the issue.