VA Secretary Priorities: What Veterans See in 2026

The VA is always working from a strategic plan, and every new Secretary sets their own goals for improving services for veterans. If you want to get a jump on where veteran policy and resources are headed, you have to understand the VA Secretary priorities for 2026. Knowing what’s on the horizon lets vets, their families, and advocacy groups see changes coming and work with the system, not get blindsided by it. So what’s actually on the agenda for those who’ve served?

1. Reviewing the Secretary’s Strategic Vision Document

To figure out where any administration is headed, you start with their official papers. For the VA, that means digging into the VA Strategic Plan 2022-2028 which is usually tweaked with annual addendums or specific goals for each fiscal year. This document, which you can find on the VA’s main website (va.gov), lays out broad ideas like “Enhance Veteran Well-being” and “Deliver Excellent Customer Service.” The real meat, though, is buried in the details of the yearly performance plans and budget justifications. Go to va.gov and search for sections like “About VA,” “Reports,” or “Strategic Plans,” and then hunt down the documents for Fiscal Year 2026. The “FY 2026 Budget Request,” for example, which should drop in early 2025, will show you exactly where the money is supposed to go. This is where you find hard numbers on funding increases for mental health or specific infrastructure projects, all written in formal government-speak that directly translates the Secretary’s plans. Pro Tip: Don’t just read the executive summary. The most important metrics and funding requests, like a 10% funding increase for the “PACT Act Implementation Office”, are often hidden deep in the sections on healthcare, benefits, and cemetery administration, showing a clear focus on toxic exposure claims. Common Mistake: Just reading news articles or summaries. They’re fine for getting the gist, but they almost always miss the critical details you only find in the official VA documents. Always go to the source and cross-reference.

VA Home Loan Options

Veteran homeowners. Want to lower your monthly payments?

See if a VA Cash Out Loan or VA Home Loan can put cash in your pocket or help you buy with $0 down. A specialist will review your options, free.

• VA Cash Out Loan: use up to 100% of your home’s equity
• VA Home Loan: buy a home with $0 down payment
• No cost, no obligation eligibility check

Join 100,000+ Veterans

Check my VA loan options

Full name Phone Email Check My VA Loan Options →

No obligation  ·  2 minutes  ·  100% confidential

2. Analyzing Congressional Testimony and Committee Hearings

Congressional hearings give you a fantastic, unfiltered look at the 2026 VA goals and what’s actually worrying the Secretary right now. When the VA Secretary goes before committees like the House and Senate Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, they have to lay out their agenda, defend their budget, and take direct questions from politicians. These meetings are often where new priorities or serious problem areas first come to light. You can find transcripts and videos of these hearings right on the committee websites, veterans.house.gov for the House and veterans.senate.gov for the Senate. Look for hearings from late 2025 or early 2026 with the VA Secretary listed as a witness. As you watch, listen for the themes they keep coming back to. If the Secretary talks about improving rural healthcare access in three different ways, you know it’s a major priority. You’re listening for direct statements like, “Our goal for 2026 is to reduce veteran suicide rates by X percent through enhanced community partnerships.” Pro Tip: The questions from the committee members are just as important as the Secretary’s answers. Those questions come from what they’re hearing from their voters back home and reveal the pressure points where the VA is expected to show real results, like a consistent grilling over claims backlogs means it’s a hot-button issue that won’t go away. Common Mistake: Skipping the Q&A. The prepared opening statement is one thing, but the unscripted back-and-forth often gives you a much more honest picture of the real challenges and what’s truly at the top of the list.

3. Tracking Public Statements and Speeches

The VA Secretary is often on the road, speaking at VSO conferences, town halls, and other public events. These speeches are how they talk about their priorities directly to veterans and other stakeholders. They’re less formal than congressional testimony, so the language is a lot more straightforward when they’re explaining key initiatives. You should keep an eye on the VA’s press release page (va.gov/opa/pressrel/) and their social media feeds to see where they’re speaking next or to get summaries of what they said. Big VSOs like the American Legion (legion.org) and Veterans of Foreign Wars (vfw.org) frequently host the Secretary and will post their own recaps or transcripts. You’re looking for the message they repeat over and over. If the Secretary keeps bringing up veteran policy changes for caregiver support or toxic exposure benefits at every stop, that’s a pretty clear sign of a major, ongoing focus. For instance, a speech at the VFW national convention might be where they first announce a plan to grow the number of VA accredited claims reps by 15% in 2026 to help with the PACT Act workload. Pro Tip: Set up some searches on news sites and the VA’s own newsroom for keywords like “VA Secretary,” “priorities,” and “2026.” It’s a good way to catch interviews or speeches that don’t get a lot of press. Common Mistake: Writing off these speeches as just PR. They are partly about persuasion, sure, but they’re also used to announce actual new programs, partnerships, and specific, measurable goals.

4. Examining Budget Allocations and Performance Reports

Forget the talk, follow the money. That’s the real measure of any priority. The yearly VA budget request sent to Congress breaks down exactly how much they plan to spend on every single program. This document gives you the hard numbers behind the VA Secretary priorities. On top of that, quarterly and annual performance reports show you the data on whether the VA is actually hitting its targets. The President’s budget, which includes the VA’s slice, is published on the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) site (whitehouse.gov/omb/). You want the “Budget of the U.S. Government” for Fiscal Year 2026. Find the VA’s section in that enormous document, and you’ll see every line-item increase or decrease for medical care, benefits, construction, you name it. A big jump in funding for “Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Mental Health Services” is an unmistakable signal that it’s a top priority. Performance reports, which you can usually find under the “Reports” tab on va.gov, show you how they’re doing on key performance indicators (KPIs) like appointment wait times, claims backlogs, and homelessness rates. When you see them consistently missing a target in one area, that area often gets a lot more attention and resources the next year. Pro Tip: Pull up the last few years’ budgets and compare them to the new 2026 proposal. A big year-over-year funding increase for a program is the clearest sign you can get that it’s moved up the priority list. On the flip side, flat or reduced funding can signal it’s less of a focus or that they’re changing their strategy. Common Mistake: Ignoring the “Justification of Estimates” sections. They’re buried in the budget, but these paragraphs explain *why* the VA is asking for that money and give detailed reasons for new projects or expanded programs.

5. Engaging with Veteran Service Organizations and Advocacy Groups

Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) and other advocates are huge players in how veteran policy gets made and challenged. These groups have direct access to the VA Secretary and other leaders, giving them a chance to give feedback and push for the issues they care about. What they say in their public statements and legislative agendas gives you a good read on what they think the VA is (and should be) focused on. Keep tabs on major VSOs like Disabled American Veterans (DAV.org), Paralyzed Veterans of America (pva.org), and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA.org). They all publish their own legislative goals or policy papers that show what they’re fighting for. For instance, if you see that every major VSO is hammering on the need for better long-term care for aging vets, and then you hear the VA Secretary start talking about the same thing, you’re seeing a priority take shape in real time. These groups are often in the room for briefings with VA officials, so they have an inside track on what’s coming. Their press releases can give you a heads-up before the VA even makes an official announcement, like a DAV statement praising the VA’s new “Tele-Rehabilitation Expansion Program” for 2026 might be the first you hear of it. Pro Tip: Join the virtual town halls or webinars these groups host. They often get guest speakers from the VA and provide some really sharp analysis of current policy debates. It’s a great way to understand the nuances of what’s going on. Common Mistake: Thinking VSO priorities and VA priorities are the same thing. They often overlap, but VSOs are also there to push the VA to make changes it might not be ready for. But when major VSOs keep pushing on an issue year after year, they can definitely force a change in the VA’s agenda. To really get what the VA Secretary is focused on for 2026, you have to look at it from all sides by combining the official documents with what’s being said in public and what advocates are pushing for. By tracking all these sources, veterans and their advocates can get a much clearer picture of what policy changes and budget fights are on the way. Staying on top of this is how you make sure the VA is actually responsive to the needs of veterans.