Unite for Veterans Condemns Chairman Bost's Attempt to Turn VA Accreditation Into a Weapon Against the VFW
Washington, DC — Unite for Veterans condemns the July 1 letter from House Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Bost and Rep. Jack Bergman asking Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins to review whether the Veterans of Foreign Wars should keep its federal accreditation to represent veterans in benefits claims.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) is one of the oldest and largest veterans organizations in America, congressionally chartered, with generations of service to the men and women who have borne the battle. Attacking their accreditation is beyond the pale, and conduct unbecoming of the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
The letter was sent privately, on official committee letterhead, the same day Chairman Bost publicly accused the VFW of "inciting political violence." The letter questions the VFW's "fitness to represent claimants" before the Department. It demands the financial terms of the VFW's merchandise arrangements and it urges the Department to review whether the VFW's accreditations should stand. All because the VFW dared to publish a cartoon opposing a bill the Chairman supports.
“Freedom of speech is a fundamental right that Americans have fought for since the founding of our nation,” said retired Marine Lt. Col Joe Plenzler, combat veteran and Unite for Veterans spokesman. “What the House Veterans Affairs Committee is doing with this letter is to demand that the veteran community self-censor and silence their advocacy under pain of government retribution. Chairman Bost and Representative Bergman must immediately retract this letter and apologize to America’s 15.8 million military veterans.”
Accreditation is the authority that lets VFW service officers sit beside veterans — for free — and help them file disability claims, appeal denials, and secure the benefits they earned. Threatening VFW accreditation threatens veterans and their families, who have pending disability claims, are filing for survivor benefits, or are navigating the complex and confusing paperwork process of the VA.
Unite for Veterans calls on Chairman Bost and Rep. Bergman to withdraw the letter. We call on Secretary Collins to decline to open any accreditation review predicated on protected advocacy. And we call on members of both parties, on both Veterans' Affairs Committees, to say plainly what should not need saying: accreditation exists to serve veterans, and it will never be used as leverage against the organizations that speak for them.
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