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mediacom, decades of dedication, decades ahead. >> mediacom supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. journal continues. host: patricia kime joins us. she focuses on military veterans and health care. i want to start with your recent story on who might be va secretary in a second trump administration. who is in the mix for the job? guest: i spoke with the previous va secretary right after the election and he likes to say it is a full's errand to figure out who it is. we do know that former va secretary robert wilkie is very much involved with the trump

transition team and he is leading the defense transition at dod. he has been at the forefront of some veterans policy issues and being an advisor through this entire last four years. he has been working on va issues behind the scenes so he is definitely a person to consider. some other people are interesting. there is dan gade, former v.a. for the state of virginia, he directed the state of virginias v.a. he is a retired army colonel who is an amputee. his name has been put out there. there is darren selman, retired air force officer who has for decades been at the forefront of community care reform and

getting v.a. care outside of v.a. strengthening the v.a. facilities but also giving vets more options. host: in the first trump administration, what trump was looking for in his v.a. secretary then and what he might try to build on? guest: president trump, the mission act was signed under him and that was an expansion of the v.a. choice program. v.a. choice was a response to a scandal overweight times over veterans waiting in phoenix and elsewhere, not being able to get care. they passed the choice act and president trump expanded it, which shortened wait times for access to care and also drive

times so it gave veterans figure options for just going to the v.a.. i think we'll see some focus on that. also a look at the structure of the v.a.. aging facilities. moving to certain parts of the sunbelt. leaving old v.a.'s in the northeast. i know there'll be an effort to look at the structure of the v.a. and see how they can make it work better for veterans. host: when the biden administration came in whether parts of v.a. programs they tried to unwind from the first trump administration and will we see some of that come back or some biden programs unwind by the next trump administration? guest: one of the concerns has

been the cost of community care. community care now is 42% of the medical care provided by v.a. host: what is community care? guest: that is when a veteran cannot get access at the local v.a. so they get a referral and they can go and it is paid for by v.a. but it is private. one of secretary dennis mcdonough's top priorities was to rein in the expansion of community care by considering that now veterans have access to telehealth and may the current metric, those 20 days to get a primary care appointment were not as effective and they need to be redone. he was not able to do that. community care has become a

large part. we will see a continuance of that. with any administration there is focuses. the project 2025, the veteran section was written by brooks tucker, former chief of staff at the v.a. under the trump administration. there is focus on hot button issues like lgbtq care, abortion , and how broad unions are at the v.a. that is definitely thought to be a focus of the next administration. host: we are talking veterans issues with patricia kime of military.com. phone lines are the same throughout the program. veterans and their families, it is (202) 748-8000 cap active military (202) 748-8001. all others (202) 748-8002.

we will also look for your text messages and tweets. folks are calling in. the story i wanted to get you to explain to viewers and it is a long investigation you did on this. canceled appointments, unexplained mixups, veterans facing challenges getting mental health care. what did you find in your investigation? guest: we started hearing stories of veterans having trouble getting appointments, once they got appointments for mental health care facing unexplained cancellations. early on in the early 20 20's he had the pandemic. cancellations were more common. host: are these mostly face-to-face cancellations --

the illustration that goes with the story shows a veteran working at their computer. guest: a lot of it was due meetings. that was a theme. also people going into a ba and being told you do not have an appointment or the provider is not here and we have to reschedule. that was a concern. we did hear these stories as recently as 2023 and this year. it is a continuing thing. the v.a. has said they have brought down the level of cancellations down to 8% of the facilities -- 8% of appointments, but for a veteran who is experiencing a mental health issue a cancellation can be a devastating thing. host: so about one out of every 10 appointments scheduled gets canceled. how does that compare to the private sector? guest: i tried to get at that.

it is hard to figure that out because it is not a centralized system. i talked with experts who said it seems to be a little high in terms of cancellations because it is such a large system and there are so many veterans seeking appointments. host: this comes at a time the v.a. has been pushing the prices hotlines to get veterans to reach out if they are in crisis. this runs counter it sounds like to what they are trying to do on mental health. guest: it does. they did a huge hiring surge last year and one of the focus was mental health providers. they scaled back a little on hiring but they are trying to stay very focused on mental health. we talked to some folks who work inside the v.a.. they said part of the issue is

provider shortages and kneeled back up if somebody goes on holiday there is no one to take those appointments. it is a problem and does need to be addressed. host: let me bring in some calls already for you. this is jerry out of long island. you are with patricia kime of military.com. go ahead. caller: caller: good morning, how are you. i would just like to say you are a fantastic person. i can tell you care a lot about people. i wanted to make mention of a thing the knights of columbus put on recently called the honor flight. my father was a vietnam vet. it was -- he said he had the time of his life and i really

appreciate it. host: for folks who do not know what an honor flight is, could you explain it real quickly? caller: they take a bunch of veterans from around the united states and they fly them down to d.c. and it is like a second home coming for the veterans because when they originally came back from vietnam they were treated horribly. they take them around washington, d.c., they give them breakfast, lunch, and dinner. they take them to the monuments, tomb of the unknown soldier. it made my father's -- it made his day. host: what was your father's name? caller: my father is also named jerry. host: thanks for telling us about jerry. have you ever experienced an honor flight?

guest: i am blessed to live in a gorgeous city and running on the mall on saturday mornings, you run by the world war ii memorial and see these honor flights, the buses come in with the veterans. little-known thing. for years senator robert dold, even until the very last of his days used to get up on saturday mornings and would sit at the world war ii memorial and basically welcome the honor flight people. he stayed there for two or three hours. host: not that it was scheduled, anyone who came. guest: anyone who came. usually there is an honor flight every saturday. host: if you go to the national airport one of the gaetz has all of the flags up from the various errors of service, world war ii, korea. it seems like that is the main gate they come through when it comes to national. guest: it is an amazing program.

it is inspiring to see the buses. host: elizabeth is in new york. you are next. caller: good morning. i wanted to ask if she knows about order the last time trump was in office that he said he would have no trans people in the military serving. is there going to be that same position of his? i have family who served in the military, some of them are no longer with us. a son who reached the rank of captain and my family -- i am concerned because my

granddaughter received one of those racist texts, 15 years old at school on friday saying she would be picked up by a brown van to take her to the plantation to pick cotton and to be ready by a certain time. i am very concerned about the possibility that friends people will not be allowed -- that trans people will not be allowed to serve. not just because they would possibly be in combat, but we have to realize there are trans people who are nurses and doctors and care for others who are in the service. i would like to know what -- host: let me take the question and listen to patricia kime. guest: i understand your concerns and i would say at the

end of the first trump administration trans people were barred from serving in military service. that went through the court system and was put in place. president biden rescinded that on his first day in office. we hear repeatedly that project 2025 is not necessarily the blueprint for the trump administration, but it does specifically say that transgender conditions are not compatible with military service. that is a real possibility. they've been pretty clear about that. host: we talked about potential v.a. secretaries and a second trump administration.

what are your thoughts on the next defense secretary? guest: i am really going to defer because i just do not track the dod as closely as you would think i would. i am very entrenched in covering the defense health agency and military medicine. in terms of the politics of dod i will pass. host: speculation on every cabinet position. it is a speculation game that happens on the turn of every new administration. we have plenty of time to speculate all we know donald trump's -- susie wiles, his campaign manager. we start to look at these other positions. this is ed in florida. good morning. caller: i would like to ask your guest why there is such a disparity in the v.a. system between the national guard veterans versus the active-duty

component veterans. the guard has served right along the active-duty component but when it comes to the veterans care issues, whether it is their premiums are different. i would like if she could address that. by the way, the national guard museum is right across the street from you. host: thanks for the call. national guard. guest: the national guard is a unique animal. it goes to the very heart of the definition of a veteran. in terms of the v.a., a veteran has to have served on active duty for at least 30 days continuously and there is a bunch of active-duty serving the federal service which is very different than serving at the state component. there are differences and issues there.

there would have to be a big policy shift in terms of considering who is a veteran and how those benefits would be changed based on that. host: let me go to john in virginia. line for veterans. good morning. caller: how are you today? host: doing well. you're on with patricia kime. caller: most people join to be a veteran because of our constitution. it means the rule of law, individual rights, and free enterprise. our forefathers chased the english out when we beat them at yorktown to form a continental congress. it took 78 years to hash out the constitution. these men never had tv or radio. they read roman and greek law and applied it to our constitution which is the greatest piece of paper ever written. in 1789 they ratified it and we

became a country. host: bring me to 2024 and veterans issues we are talking about. caller: i am not talking about veterans issues, i am talking about being an american and why we are veterans and why we have to protect the constitution. i do not want to talk to any pundit or bureaucrat inside the beltway that knows everything that spent 30 years getting a degree or writing a paper and knowing everything. you saw what happened the last election. people inside the beltway are never never land. thank you and happy veterans day. host: that is john in mclean, virginia. about 20 minutes left with patricia kime. a long series of stories in her writing career. scroll through them at military.com. i want to ask about a recent one. who arcade to -- you are k2

veterans? guest: it was an airbase in use pakistan the u.s. used early on in the global war on terror. about 37,000 people over the course of time were stationed there. it being a former soviet base had a lot of environmental pollution. the research done and talking to the veterans who lived there, they had a pond, a waste pond, they call it the skittles pond because it was bright green with who knows what. there were signs that said radiation, do not pass this point. there is discussion about whether there was depleted uranium on the base. it is a cohort of veterans that

uniquely were exposed to a whole host of environmental exposures. they have been pushing recently for more recognition for the onus is they believe were caused by being stationed. -- for the illnesses they believe were caused by being stationed. host: this is another group of veterans like agent orange that were exposed to something. guest: that agent orange legislation years ago really did expose how the combat environment is environmentally hazardous. from lead to agent orange to burn pits to the waste of being a troop. it is not a healthy environment. host: on k2, secretary spoke at

the press club about this recently on october 29. we want to play two minutes for viewers. >> nearly 12,000 are service-connected for at least one condition, keeping an average of 30,000 year earned benefits. k2 veterans now have a higher claim and approval rate than any other cohort of veterans. we have more work to do to get this right. some k2 vets still understandably feel overlooked. they have waited for 23 years to see their uniquely dangerous service recognized. i will say that again. uniquely dangerous service recognized. we have to do better and be better for those k2 veterans. today i am proud to announce the v8 will begin rulemaking to add bladder and other urinary

cancers and new presumptive conditions for k2 veterans. we are not stopping there. next week we will complete the scientific review of multiple myeloma and leukemia. the preliminary findings are promising and they suggest that the v.a. will be able to make those conditions presumptive for k2 veterans and all eligible veterans. once the final results are in, the v.a. will look to expand that presumption tall biologically linked blood cancers. this may include p-vera, a condition identified by veterans themselves and shared with v.a.

we will do so based on biological science without requiring vets to wait for v.a. to complete additional studies. i've committed to establishing service connection for any rare condition found in k2 that which has plausible biological link to the toxic soup we now know and acknowledge was present at k2. host: secretary dennis mcdonough there. how significant are the changes he announced and more importantly how quickly did this happen compared to the burn pits or as far back as agent orange? guest: it is interesting. one of the biggest things he said during that speech was about the blood cancers, which were left out of the massive legislation for the burn pit exposure.

the blood cancer thing, not just for k2 people. that is pretty significant. it is fairly rapid. in 2012, there were a handful of families that were pushing for burn pit legislation. they were sick. between that and 2022 when the pack was finally passed, that is a decade, k2 veterans have been sick for years. the reporting that actually exposed that based on that clip, they showed a picture of the major reporter who covered that issue. she started writing her stories and 2018 and 2019. it is five years later we are having some movement, some policy changes to help these veterans.

things are moving a little bit faster. host: is there something out there that could be the next k2, the next agent orange. what is another group of veterans that have come together to advocate for these toxic environment soldiers were exposed to? guest: a lot of these veterans you hear about, it is serving overseas. we know from camp lejeune, north carolina, where they had for 30 years water that sicken people who live there. there are places in the u.s. that have issues or have stored agent orange where they used agent orange. i previously reported on california, where they used dioxins to kill offjust herbicif

thing. there is a very vocal small group of people, that is done in alabama. i think the next group will probably be the folks on domestic bases who will have gotten sick because of poor management in the past. host: this is everett, grand junction, colorado, good morning. caller: thank you john. thank you patricia for answering questions. from 1970 -- i served from 1970-1978. i did not go and serve in vietnam. i know a lot of people that did.

those that came back and were trying to apply through the v.a. system for different types of benefits, mental or physical, it just seemed like it took such a long time for them to even get to somebody that could help them. i was lucky enough to -- we have an old guard unit here that was turned into a veterans help center. we do have a hospital here. brian was a marine that was injured, he was taking people's claims and trying to help them out. he did a wonderful job. i was lucky during my time in the service my mother kept all my records. i know veterans and servicemen who at that particular time through records out the window, they threw them over the fence.

it was extremely frustrating to them. i was lucky to have all of my records and i could communicate back and forth. one lady over there, i did not know her, she kept asking for forms. i sent 13 forms, it took five years to get somebody to look at my case. i'm looking at a shirt that i wear on veterans day, all gave some and some gave all. it had salutes and a flag, m-16 with a helmet. i'm sure all veterans know that particular one. even those that did not serve in the military, my dad was a railroader. he couldn't serve because he was needed to operate an engine and freight train.

just a shout out to everybody. thank you for this program. host: could we come back to the record-keeping and the digital age? guest: thank you for that and thank you for your service. it's a complex system. i think the v.a. with the digital records they have to find a balance. sometimes they will promote the digital thing, we have the older generation. we have a hard time with the digital system. we are in that transitional period where we will get to a point where they are applying for claims and that will make it easier. the record system is hard.

there was a major fire years ago where they kept a lot of army and air force records. if people didn't have copies they all went up in smoke. the v.a. has pledged, also there are veterans service organizations. they all employ service officers who could help veterans like the american legion and disabled american veterans. so many that i cannot name them all. they try to get those claims. host: shippensburg, korean war veteran? is that correct? caller: the second korean war. we were exposed to many toxic

chemicals, agent blue was the one that has given me the most problems. i put in for an obstructive sleep apnea claim on may 6, 2016 . i was finally granted a 50% rating for that. let's see when they did this. july 27, 2023. if you do the math from 2016 through 2023, that was over eight years time span for the v.a. to consider my claim which at first they denied. i appealed that and finally had a judge in 2023, they took part

of the claim. they referred back to pittsburgh v.a., the balance. they gave me a 50% rating. what they should have done originally based on the v.a.'s own guidelines, i should have been rated at 100% when i filed this claim. i have appealed the judge's decision now. they sent me two different checks. they sent me one for 10% and they sent me another saying they are combining the two, my disability on breathing, i can't walk more than 50 or 60 feet

before i have to stop. i cannot breathe. this is the way the korean war veterans served from 1966 on that were exposed. they were exposed up to the year 2000 when we came off. to give you an idea of how the dmv veterans were first treated, when i first clot -- filed my first claim and that was 16 years ago, i included paperwork and copies of my orders, sending me to korea from my artillery unit while in the infantry promoted, my orders going back stateside to fort riley, kansas, when i filed my first claim, i had all of those orders attached.

my first claim was for frostbite, which i suffered in 1968-1969, my denial came back that said, you were in vietnam and you could not possibly have gotten frostbite. host: thanks for sharing your story. what you think about that? guest: going before the judge and veterans court of appeals, that actually is a supremes court case that was heard a couple of weeks ago about two veterans, it is the benefit of the doubt clause.

whenever they file, it is against the head of the department. the court of appeals when you have equal looking proof, a way toward the veterans. grant a disability rating in favor of the veteran peered there were two vets that challenge this because they didn't get what they believe was benefit of the doubt. depending on how the supreme court rules on that, a lot of these cases may take forever. it could affect the court of appeals in expediting cases like that. host: whether they are 50% disabled, 100% disabled, what

does that mean? guest: each percentage is a level of monetary compensation. host: is that every bill you get from a doctor's visit? guest: claims are very different. it is separate than the veterans health administration. they are not tied to your medical care. when you apply for a disability came -- claim it is like applying for social security disability. i got this sickness when i was in the service or i was injured in the service and it is aggravated or getting worse. 100% disabled is obviously the highest rating. it's the most monetary compensation. it affords you some interesting benefits.

now disabled veterans could go shopping. there is some other things like that, that benefits afford like 100% disability rating. host: a question from robert on social media, is there any thought on cannabis based remedies? so doctors could prescribe them? guest: interesting. there is a paper out by the v.a. , the v.a. has been trying to get that removed, cannabis removed from the schedule one classification that prohibits it from being readily used for research. what the v.a. would like to have done is have that removed from schedule one so they could do the research that is needed to be able to prescribed

cannabis. they would probably not move forward with that without having solid research that shows it is an official to a certain number of veterans. host: do you have time for one or two more calls? guest: shirt. -- sure. host: do you have a question? caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: my issue was i'm the daughter of a 30 year veteran and three other military people in vietnam but i don't have any medical issues, is that ok? host: what is your question? does it relate to the v.a.? caller: i thought they wanted to talk to families of veterans. host: tell me about your family,

i have about two minutes. caller: my father was a 30 year veteran, an officer. took the only black troop into omaha beach. he was in seven different wars over there in europe before he came back. i have two brothers who were in vietnam. they went back twice. a sister who was a nurse in germany. we did a lot of traveling with the military. i have a lot of respect for it. i have a lot of respect for our flag. when i moved to seattle the flag was tattered and torn and left out 24 hours per day for years. the flag is supposed to be respected and be in light at night, taken out during

storms. when i asked a young man to help me put it up, he said i don't care about the flag. i think that's a really important issue people need to know a little bit more about. it's a lot of rules for flying the flag. the flag means a lot. host: thanks for that from seattle, washington. patricia kime, you do so many investigations, what are you working on next? guest: i think we will get through the next presidential transition and dig into quite a few ideas, not disclosing. host: you will be able to find them on mi

>> later, the congressional progressive caucus will hold a press conference with newly elected members at 1:00 eastern. also, watch it live on the c-span video app or online at c-an.org. >> congres returns tuesday for the rstime since the election f lislative business and votes. wednesday, house and sene republicans will hold leadership elections for the next congress. house republanwill elect their nominee for speaker and sete republicans will pick the next leader after retaking the majority in e per chamber. newly elected members will ao be in washington for orientation including selecting their capitol hillffices by lottery. the house and senate are also returning tuesday facing a government funding deadline and must pass additional funngo avert shut out. the house is back tuesday at noon. they will