Robert Thomas, an Army veteran and president of Paralyzed Veterans of America, testifies during a joint Senate and House Committee on Veterans Affairs hearing on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
WASHINGTON — Underfunding, staffing cuts and aging equipment are “dismantling” the services that paralyzed veterans receive at two dozen specialty treatment centers that the Department of Veterans Affairs runs across the nation, an advocacy group warned lawmakers.
Yet comparable care outside the VA medical network for this vulnerable population is largely nonexistent, according to Paralyzed Veterans of America.
“Only VA provides the full, lifelong continuum of services for veterans with spinal-cord injuries and disorders,” Robert Thomas, an Army veteran and president of Paralyzed Veterans of America, told a joint hearing of the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees.
Paralyzed Veterans of America — a congressionally chartered organization representing more than 42,000 veterans with a spinal-cord injury or disease — provided testimony on bills that it supports on behalf of veterans.
The American Legion, AMVETS, the National Association of State Directors of Veteran Affairs and Wounded Warrior Project were among other veterans groups that detailed their legislative agendas Wednesday in testimony and written statements.
“You provide tremendous value to our committee,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., addressing the eight advocacy groups that testified at the three-hour hearing.
Thomas devoted most of his remarks to the importance of preserving VA’s unique hub-and-spoke model for providing care for veterans with spinal cord injuries and diseases as the agency builds out a national network of private, non-VA providers managed by third-party administrators.
“When I sustained my spinal cord injury, the VA’s Spinal Cord Injuries and Disorders System of Care became my lifeline, and today I represent tens of thousands of veterans who depend on it just as I do,” Thomas said.
VA operates the nation’s largest spinal care system, staffed by teams of specialists at hospital-based centers — or hubs — that consult with regional VA clinics and hospitals treating veterans with spinal cord injuries and diseases.
Many non-VA hospitals provide acute care for patients with spinal cord injuries. But ongoing private-sector medical care is inferior or largely non-existent for paralyzed veterans, Thomas said.
“The overwhelming majority [of paralyzed veterans] choose to receive their care at VA facilities,” said Thomas, who is disabled and uses a wheelchair. “There is no other system out in the community that can take care of the unique needs you have with a spinal cord injury.”
Eliminating unfilled VA medical positions — a practice that started under the previous administration and continues — has created the “illusion” that staffing levels are better than they really are, Thomas said.
Staffing caps and salaries less than what workers can earn in the private sector are making recruitment for new hires a challenge, he said.
“Protecting veterans benefits should be a bipartisan issue,” said Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., who urged oversight of a major VA reorganization underway that emphasizes community-based care.
“The VA is not a business and should not follow a business model by doing more with less,” Takano said.
The VA did not send a representative to the hearing.
But VA press secretary Peter Kasperowicz said on Friday that until recently it was the practice at VA hospitals and clinics to keep jobs open and unfunded for years after they were no longer needed.
“As a result, VA facilities had thousands of unnecessary positions on their books, which made it more difficult for VA leaders to make informed staffing decisions around the country,” Kasperowicz said.
Managers were directed to eliminate unfilled positions that were obsolete to more accurately reflect a facility’s needs and operations.
“No employees lost their jobs,” Kasperowicz said.
He said that all VA medical facilities will continue to recruit and hire to fill existing vacancies.
A national shortage of health care workers, however, is causing demand in both the public and private sectors to outpace the supply of doctors, nurses and other personnel.
Thomas also said about half of VA medical buildings are more than 50 years old and need updates estimated to cost $19 billion.
Veterans with catastrophic disabilities sometimes have trouble accessing buildings that need renovations to accommodate wheelchairs in exam rooms, he said.
Thomas discussed pending legislation to improve services and benefits for paralyzed veterans and their spouses, who often serve as round-the-clock caregivers.
The organization supports the Disabled Veterans Dignity Act, led by Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., to provide timely, tax-free reimbursements for home medical supplies for ostomy and colostomy care, as well as urinary catheterization.
Paralyzed Veterans also endorsed the GOP-led Sharri Briley and Eric Edmundson Veterans Benefits Expansion Act, which would increase special monthly compensation for catastrophically disabled veterans and their survivors.
Thomas addressed the need for more caregiver support for aging, paralyzed veterans.
Older veterans with catastrophic disabilities are sometimes forced into acute-care hospital settings for months and years, because there is no other place that can adequately meet their needs, he said.
“Due to the extreme nature of their disability, the impact on the quality of life cannot be totally compensated for,” Thomas said.
Yet baseline rates for special monthly compensation have not been updated in decades, he said.
The legislation would impose higher refinancing fees on certain VA home loans to cover the costs, a move criticized by some Democrats, who said that veterans should not have to shoulder the burden.
Thousands of veterans, military families and members of the general public signed a petition the Paralyzed Veterans launched in 2025 to strengthen and ensure that the VA’s spinal cord care system is fully operational.
Sen. Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., said the nation has a moral duty to offer accessible and up-to-date VA medical care for catastrophically disabled veterans unable to find the same care in their community.
McGarvey cited staff vacancies in the VA’s spinal cord care network that have kept many VA hospital beds empty, because there is not enough workers to meet the complex needs of patients.
“We have an administration coming to us asking for billions and billions of dollars to send people into war again but unwilling to find the money to take care of those who served in wars prior to this,” McGarvey said.
