Veteran advocates who welcomed President Trump’s May executive order calling for a new National Center for Warrior Independence in West Los Angeles now say they are mystified and disappointed by the budget produced by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to implement it.
Trump’s executive order said the VA’s West Los Angeles campus would provide housing for 6,000 veterans by the end of his term. But the budget proposal submitted to Congress this months does not request funding for a single new bed.
Instead, the VA is asking for a $500-million appropriation to rehab six aging buildings, erect an 800-space parking structure and improve infrastructure on its sprawling campus spanning Wilshire Boulevard west of the 405 Freeway. It identified three other projects, including the rehabilitation of the historic but dilapidated Wadsworth Chapel, that would be funded by redirecting $212 million from previous authorizations.