20. Department of Veterans Affairs · Notable · Needs Congress
Extend the Under Secretary for Health's term to five years, renewable once
Printed page 647 20. Department of Veterans Affairs
“Extend the term of the Under Secretary for Health (USH) to five years. Additionally, authority should be given to reappoint this individual for a second five-year term both to allow for continuity and to protect the USH from political transition.”
What has happened
- Not started
The Under Secretary for Health’s term is still what 38 U.S.C. 305 makes it, and no bill to lengthen it or to authorize a second term was introduced in the 119th Congress. The post was filled inside the window on the existing terms: John Bartrum was confirmed by the Senate 53–43 on 2025-12-18, after VA opened the search on 2025-04-14. Changing the term needs a statute and Congress has not been asked for one — neither the FY2026 nor the FY2027 budget request carries a legislative proposal on it.
No action found yet. This entry is the starting point, not a finding.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
Negative search, 2026-09-01:
- Corpus
bills.ndjsonandpublic-laws.ndjson, titles matchingUnder Secretary— zero VA hits in the 119th Congress. - Federal Register API, exact phrase
"Under Secretary for Health"withconditions[agencies][]=veterans-affairs-departmentfrom 2025-01-20 — 14 documents, all advisory-committee meeting notices, Privacy Act notices, pay-range notices and the reproductive health services rules. Nothing on the term of office. - Corpus
nominations.ndjson:119-PN246-02, John Bartrum to be Under Secretary for Health, confirmed 2025-12-18 (Record Vote 655). Its congress.gov page (https://www.congress.gov/nomination/119th-congress/246) refuses automated fetches, so it is a lead here rather than Evidence; the confirmation is context, not progress on this ask.
- Action
- other
- Object
- Term of the Under Secretary for Health
- ID
- 1772