In 2014, the country learned something that veterans in Phoenix already knew: the system that was supposed to care for them was failing. 

The Phoenix VA scandal exposed veterans waiting months for medical appointments while employees manipulated scheduling records to make wait times appear shorter. An investigation identified approximately 1,700 veterans in Phoenix who were waiting for care but were not even on the official electronic wait list. It was an extraordinary breach of trust.

I had returned home from serving as an active-duty Army infantry officer only a few months earlier. Watching what happened in Phoenix pulled me into veterans advocacy. I went to work advocating for VA reform because I could not accept that veterans who kept their commitment to this country were being failed by the institutions responsible for keeping our commitment to them. A lot has changed since 2014.

The scandal forced Washington to confront longstanding problems at the VA and helped launch a decade of bipartisan reforms aimed at accountability, access to community care and giving veterans greater control over their health care. Those reforms mattered. But they did not finish the job.

Congress now has another opportunity to make meaningful improvements for veterans and their families by passing the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act. The legislation brings together more than 60 veterans’ priorities, addressing health care, disability benefits, mental health, caregivers, surviving spouses, education and the transition to civilian life. Many have been debated and negotiated for years. They don’t need another hearing. They need a vote.

One provision I care most about is the Major Richard Star Act. Today, some veterans medically retired because of combat-related injuries cannot receive the full military retirement pay and VA disability compensation they would otherwise be entitled to receive. 

In effect, the injury that ended their military career can also prevent them from receiving the full benefits associated with that career. That has never made sense to me. Retirement pay recognizes military service. 

Disability compensation recognizes an injury incurred because of that service. They are two different things. If an American goes to war and suffers a combat-related injury that ends his or her career, that veteran should not receive less because the injury prevented them from making it to 20 years. The Richard Star Act would help fix that inequity. But it is only one part of a much larger bill.

The Take Care of America’s Veterans Act also addresses veterans’ access to care, mental health and addiction treatment, support for surviving spouses and caregivers, and dozens of other issues that rarely make national headlines but matter enormously to the people affected by them. There are legitimate disagreements about portions of this legislation. Good. Work them out. That’s the job. I don’t expect Congress to pass a major piece of legislation without debating its cost or consequences. 

With a national debt that threatens our long-term security, I want lawmakers asking hard questions about federal spending. But fiscal responsibility also means understanding the difference between making a new promise and honoring an old obligation.

Veterans benefits are not charity. When the United States sends a young man or woman to war, some costs don’t appear until years or decades later. They appear as disability claims, cancer treatments, mental health care, caregiver needs and survivor benefits. 

Those costs don’t stop being costs of war simply because they appear in the VA budget instead of the Pentagon’s. I think often about the generation that answered the call after September 11. My generation.

The lesson I took from Phoenix in 2014 was simple: promises to veterans mean very little unless someone is willing to fight to make government keep them. More than a decade later, that principle hasn’t changed. 

Nobody needs to pretend the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act is perfect. If something needs to be changed, change it. If lawmakers have a legitimate concern, resolve it. But don’t use imperfection as an excuse to do nothing. 

Congress has an opportunity to build on more than a decade of veterans reform and deliver meaningful improvements for veterans, caregivers, survivors and military families. Finish the negotiations. Find the votes. Pass the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act.

Matt Kenney is a veteran advocate, combat veteran and former member of the Arizona Veterans’ Advisory Commission.