Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), opposed the highly bipartisan VA Mission Act of 2018, which gave veterans more choices in receiving care from private hospitals if they were stuck waiting at government-run hospitals.
Walz, who is facing accusations of stolen valor, was one of just 70 House members to vote against the bill, all of whom were Democrats, while a bipartisan coalition, including a majority of Democrats and Republicans, advanced the bill to the Senate.
Then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) voted against the bill as well, and on the day of its passage from the House, she called it a “missed opportunity” and praised Walz, who was the ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for “his outstanding leadership in ensuring Democratic priorities were included in this legislation.”
The bill breezed through the Senate, passing 92-5 before being signed into law by former President Donald Trump on June 6, 2018.
“So it’s now my great honor to sign the VA Mission Act, or as we all know it, the Choice Act, and to make veterans choice the permanent law of our great country. And nobody deserves it more than our veterans,” he said before signing the bill.
Walz issued a press release the same day opposing the law, which most of his party in the House and Senate supported, saying it would force cuts to existing VA programs, citing worries over a “sustainable funding source.”
“Veterans’ issues have always been bipartisan, and I stand ready to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass meaningful legislation fixing VA community care without putting other key VA programs and initiatives at risk in the process,” he said.
Walz is notably facing accusations of stolen valor regarding the rank he retired with when leaving the Minnesota National Guard versus the one listed on his official website, as Breitbart News reported:
Walz served in the Minnesota Army National Guard and retired at the rank of master sergeant, or an E-8. However, on his official website bio, he lists a higher rank that he served at for a short period that ultimately was rescinded, as he did not complete all the requirements to serve at that rank. However, his bio implies that he retired at the rank of command sergeant major, or an E-9.
“He retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy,” Minnesota National Guard Public Affairs Safety Officer, Army Lt Col Krtisten Augé said in an email to Breitbart News.
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