As part of the new American Job's Plan by the Biden administration, the federal government plans to invest $18 billion to improve and upgrade federal facilities, especially those that serve our nation's veterans, a press release from The White House said.
The American Job's plan "is an investment in America that will create millions of good jobs, rebuild our country’s infrastructure and position the United States to out-compete China," while also helping America rebuild a new economy which has fallen more than 40% since the 1960s, the release said.
"Our veterans sacrificed so much to protect our country, and we must invest in our VA facilities to help get them the best care possible. The #AmericanJobsPlan will provide $18 billion to modernize facilities all over the country so we can better serve our veterans," U.S. Rep. Colin Allred (D-Dallas) said in a tweet.
VA Secretary Denis McDonough said that modernizing the infrastructure of VA clinics and hospitals will help those facilities keep up with the ever evolving health care system.
“A lack of a modern infrastructure actually limits our ability to meet the evolving health care needs of Veterans,” McDonough said.
McDonough stated that this plan will not help VA hospital infrastructure, but will also help give those hospitals the resources so desperately needed to better serve veterans.
“It will ensure that we at VA have the resources we need to support Veterans and their families across three key areas,” McDonough said. “We serve up to 9.5 million Vets, and we need the resources to modernize these facilities and deliver care.”
McDonough said most private sector hospitals have a median age of approximately 11 years, but VA hospitals have a median age of 58 years. He also explained that approximately 69% of those served at VA hospitals are over the age of 50 throughout the more than 1,700 hospitals currently in operation.
According to a Center for a New American Security (CNAS), as of 2016, more than 1.6 million national veterans reside in Texas. Midland has the largest population of veterans that served in Vietnam, "1.05 times greater than any other conflict," a Data USA report on Midland said.
CNAS concluded that 386,358 veterans alone live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The American Job's Act, being the largest investment in the country since the Space Race, will better help serve these veterans in every way needed.