'In The Private Sector These Are Lousy': Mike Levin Asks VA Secretary About 'Self-Service' Calling Options

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During a House Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday, Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) spoke about automated services at VA call centers.

Transcript

00:00No problem, Mr. Chairman. I want to congratulate you, Mr. Secretary. It's great to be with you,

00:05and I want to associate myself with Chairman Cole's comments about the work that we do in a bipartisan manner for our veterans.

00:12I'm a new appropriator. I was on the Veterans Affairs Committee for six years prior to joining the Appropriations Committee,

00:18and I was both chair and ranking member of the Economic Opportunities Subcommittee,

00:22so I had an opportunity to work with lots of different great Republicans and Democrats alike,

00:27and we got scores of bills through and signed into law both by President Trump and then by President Biden,

00:34and I'm hopeful we can continue in that spirit of bipartisan collaboration to find areas of common ground

00:38in the second Trump administration, just as we did with Secretary Wilkie in the first Trump administration.

00:46I think, like everybody else, we're excited to see the detailed budget request,

00:51and I wanted to just bring to your attention the bipartisan veterans package that we passed last year

00:58had a number of really important programs for veteran homelessness, long-term care, veteran caregivers,

01:03included three of my bipartisan bills, and I have a parochial interest in making sure those are fully funded,

01:09one in particular, the CVSO Act.

01:11That's with Kathy McMorris-Rogers, Brad Finstead, and Chris Pappas,

01:16which authorized $10 million in funding for grants to states to improve outreach to veterans

01:21and increase the number of county veteran service officers, very important for regions like mine in San Diego.

01:27So, Mr. Secretary, as you develop the final budget request,

01:30can you commit to working with your team to fully fund this important grant program?

01:35Yes, and Congressman, I appreciate your words and comments, I think,

01:39because most on this committee know that that was my hallmark here,

01:43working bipartisanly to get stuff done, and we've done that before.

01:46Yes, I mean, you've also brought up something that's very important to me,

01:50and I've actually went to our county veterans, our state veterans.

01:52We've not done a good job, I think, at the VA over a long-term period of actually utilizing those state benefits

01:59or state partnerships and our county partnerships, because they're so important,

02:02because especially in the county side, this is where most people go,

02:05because they know each other.

02:06It's that veteran knowing veterans.

02:08So, for me, yes, this is something that's a priority for me going forward.

02:11It's going to be something we can definitely work across, y'all,

02:13and Ms. McMorris-Rogers and I did a lot of things together as well,

02:16so it's good to see y'all do that, but we will, yes.

02:18That's great, I appreciate that very much.

02:20I also wanted to thank you, I wrote you back on April 2nd,

02:24about call centers and specifically the potential move to automation.

02:29We receive, I mean, you were a member for a long time,

02:32you get all kinds of calls from disabled veterans, elderly veterans,

02:36who don't know how to schedule appointments.

02:38They don't know how to navigate VA websites.

02:41They don't necessarily know how to reach out to their primary care providers in some cases,

02:46and they rely on those employees at your call centers,

02:49and they're worried that they won't be able to talk to an actual human being

02:53when they call VA to schedule an appointment.

02:56So, Mr. Secretary, can you promise my constituents that when they call VA,

03:00they will be able to talk to an actual human being?

03:04Yeah, that's our intention.

03:05One of the things that I want to, I appreciate you asking this,

03:07because it's important to me, because as someone who deals a lot in my district,

03:11most of you did as well with older veterans who are just, you know,

03:14looking for answers, especially trying to.

03:15But what became surprising to me is we have over, it's approximately,

03:20and I have to get this number, over 200 and possibly 250 call centers associated with the VA.

03:26What concerns me about those is they don't talk to each other.

03:29We have 250 almost, you know, different call centers across the country that have no connection,

03:35unlike if you were to call your insurance agent or another company, they would know,

03:40okay, we see, Congressman, you wanted to know about this benefit.

03:43Well, we could connect you there.

03:44What we're trying to do is make that more streamlined or looking at the possibility of

03:48how do we do that so that the veteran can get directly to their care,

03:51get to somebody who can answer their question, but do it without having to dial several numbers.

03:55One of the problems we found was is that they would dial one number,

03:58maybe our main 401 number, 411 number, but yet at the end of the day,

04:02they're having to get another number to call.

04:03So I'm with you.

04:04Let's make it as easy as we possibly can and streamline that so that they can get the help,

04:07personal help that they need.

04:08But just to be clear, it'll be a human on the other end.

04:11Yeah, we're making sure that we have as much human interaction as we can.

04:14The other week I had a dishwasher installed.

04:16I called the number and it was an AI chat assistant.

04:19I was ready to hang up.

04:21I don't want that to happen to our veterans.

04:24And in the letter, in the response, you said, quote,

04:28VA call centers are incorporating self-service options.

04:32And, quote, there is always an option to be connected to a live representative.

04:36So, again, to drill down on this, can you be specific about what self-service options are?

04:42Because in the private sector, these are lousy.

04:46Time is used.

04:48Use your time.

04:49Yes, sir.

04:50I have 15 seconds left, Mr. Chairman.

04:52Can the secretary answer the question?

04:55Yes, he may answer the question.

04:55I'll answer the thing.

04:56Yeah, we're going to continue to work.

04:58I think the main thing, though, is there also has to be an understanding of how we also can process efficiently

05:02and looking at it.

05:03So, if there is ways that we can get them, if they can, say, push one to go right to VBA, we'll do that.

05:07That's my mind of how we can do this.

05:09Or if they can actually leave their information and they can get the information that they need sent in

05:13or set an appointment.

05:14Those are the kind of things that do work in the private sector as well.

05:16But we'll continue to work together.

05:17Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

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