WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND), a Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee member, and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) wrote a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) urging it to look at how to strengthen the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Solid Start program, which aims to contact every veteran multiple times by phone in the first year after they leave active duty to check in and help connect them to VA programs and benefits.
“We believe the Solid Start program will become a critical piece of the VA’s efforts to reach out to veterans who may not otherwise access the resources the Department has to offer,” the senators wrote. “We therefore request that the Government Accountability Office assess the program to ensure that it is meeting its stated goals and to analyze whether any improvements or other changes should be made to the program.”
Senators Cramer and Hassan, as well as Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA),introduced a bipartisan bill last year to strengthen and codify the Solid Start program, which included a requirement that the GAO assess the Solid Start program to ensure that it is efficiently and effectively meeting its goals. Representatives Slotkin and Joyce introduced a companion bill last year in the House of Representatives.
Data released by the VA late last year showed that in the first nine months of the Solid Start program, the VA successfully contacted almost 70,000 newly separated veterans, including over 12,000 veterans who had sought mental health support in their last year of service.