Deal Reached to Extend Program for Brain-Damaged Vets

Congressional negotiators agreed Monday to extend a government program that funds assisted-living homes for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries, including dozens of troops wounded by roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The accord, tucked into a larger bill to address health-care and management scandals at the Department of Veterans Affairs, constitutes a last-minute move to prevent the eviction of dozens of brain-damaged veterans from private rehabilitation facilities around the country.

Veterans who are receiving treatment for traumatic brain injury can have a greater peace of mind knowing that the program will be extended, Rep. Bill Cassidy (R., La.), one of the sponsors of the extension, said in a written announcement.

The $17 billion compromise bill must still win passage in the full House and Senate and secure President Barack Obamas approval.

With Congress in a partisan stall and legal authority for the program due to end in October, the VA had begun discharging veterans from the care facilities. The VA already warned 53 veterans that theyd have to find alternative housing by Sept. 15, creating a wave of unease among patients and their families. The VA had left in limbo the fates of 50 other veterans, from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

A VA spokeswoman declined to say immediately whether the VA would stop the discharges now that Congress has signaled its intent to continue funding the brain-injury program.

The length of the extension was in flux Monday afternoon, as lawmakers were putting the final touches on the larger VA bill. Capitol Hill aides said the program, originally created by Congress as a five-year pilot, would be extended for a further three years.

The brain-injury care program has been the subject of two stories in The Wall Street Journal, including a Feb. 20 front-page article about former Marine Cpl. Justin Bunce, who was injured by an explosion in Iraq in 2004 and lives with other brain-damaged veterans in a VA-funded home in Germantown, Md.

The VA-funded rehabilitation facilities are run by private companies and each typically resembles a group home or apartment complex. Some facilities are home to several veterans, allowing patients the comfort of living with others who share their experience with traumatic brain injuries, which can range from concussions to penetrating head wounds. Residents have full-time attendants and receive speech, physical, cognitive and occupational therapies.

Related: Brain-Injured Veterans Search for Solace Congressional Inaction Threatens Program for Brain-Damaged VetsLawmakers Unveil $17 Billion Fix for VA

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Deal Reached to Extend Program for Brain-Damaged Vets