Our veterans have sacrificed so much for our country, and they deserve nothing less than our full support. I am committed to ensuring that our veterans are taken care of and get the services and care they have rightfully earned.

This week, I invited Congressman Mike Bost, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, to visit Central Washington to hear directly from our veterans and their healthcare providers about the issues they are facing. We visited our local VA facilities in Richland and Walla Walla and hosted a listening session to to understand their concerns.

Their message was clear: the rollout of the new Electronic Health Records system at the VA is not providing the care our veterans need and deserve. I urge the Biden Administration to immediately stop the rollout of this system across the country and request help to our local VA facilities. Cerner must be held accountable for its failures to ensure no more medical records are lost and no more veterans are harmed.

I am committed to ensuring that the men and women who have put their lives on the line for us get the care they deserve.

Below are some highlights from my visit and listening session:

Rep. Bost and I met with healthcare providers and staff at the Richland VA Clinic to learn about their concerns with the Cerner Electronic Health Record system. The system is not user-friendly for the providers or the veterans, which ultimately hurts our veterans.

Our VA healthcare professionals are working to provide the best care possible for our veterans but are facing numerous problems with the new electronic system. They emphasized how important it is that we resolve these issues before any other VA center across the country uses it.

Rep. Bost and I held a listening session for Central Washington veterans to hear directly from them about their concerns and issues that they are facing. Their message was clear: the VA is not providing the care they need and deserve, and the Cerner electronic system roll out has only made things worse.

I alongside Rep. Bost urge this Administration to immediately stop the rollout of this system across the country and to deploy help to Richland, Walla Walla and Spokane VA facilities. Our veterans deserve the best care possible, and this system has caused medical records to be lost, ultimately hurting our veterans. This is unacceptable and I will continue to fight for our veterans like they have fought for our country. 

On Thursday, I toured RDO Equipment’s brand-new facility in Moses Lake and was able to see their new technologies being implemented to assist farmers and customers. They shared their experiences with the supply chain crisis which has delayed farmers from receiving crucial products and equipment they need to harvest their crops.

Our food security starts with our farmers, and if they do not have the equipment they need to produce and harvest their crops, our food supply chain is at risk. I am working to ensure that our farmers have the necessary tools they need to do their jobs—food security is national security, and it starts with them having the ability to harvest their goods.