Democrats for years have seen the conservative Koch brothers as political enemies. Former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid even called them "un-American."

But Wednesday, Senate Democrats teamed up with Republicans to pass major veterans health care legislation championed by the Kochs.

The Koch-funded Concerned Veterans for America celebrated a big victory with the passage of the VA MISSION Act, a sweeping bill that overhauls how the Department of Veterans Affairs gives patients access to private-sector doctors.

Click to resize

It's a big win for the once-obscure advocacy group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch. The group helped write the bill, which sailed through the Senate by a 92-5 vote after also passing the House overwhelmingly. It got broad support from politicians and veterans groups across the political spectrum, and President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill into law soon.

The $52 billion package aims to make it easier for veterans to qualify for private sector care by requiring VA to publish clear standards. It allows veterans to appeal if VA denies their requests for care outside the agency.

The bill also extends stipends for veterans' caretakers beyond the 9/11 generation of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. Now included would be veterans of other eras, who could get care at home instead of at institutions.

The legislation would initiate a review of VA assets and infrastructure to determine if some facilities should be closed, or staffing plans restructured, based on documented need and usage.

Not everybody supports the bill. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi opposed it, saying the measure was "a missed opportunity" and fiscally irresponsible. She said it fails to provide a long-term solution to prevent future VA budget cuts.

“This bill opens the doors to VA privatization," the California Democrat said in a statement May 16, after the House passed the bill, 347-70.

"By handing the Trump Administration’s ideologues and Koch Brothers the keys to an underfunded VA," Pelosi said, "Republicans are pushing forth their campaign to dismantle veterans’ health care.”

The bill does not address how the VA will fund all of its obligations and programs once the transfer occurs under the current budget agreement. That could result in automatic across-the-board cuts, explained a Pelosi spokesman Henry Connelly in an email on Wednesday.





"The bill gives unprecedented power to the administration to privatize key VA health care services in an already underfunded system at a time when VA is hemorrhaging leadership and key posts," Connelly said.