Against the backdrop of partisan politics and a midterm election season already consuming national attention, North Carolina has an opportunity to provide the country with an example of what is possible when the political temperature comes down long enough for government to work for the people it serves.
Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., moved to do that with H.R. 10159, legislation sponsored by Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., and backed by members of both parties across North Carolina’s congressional delegation. The U.S. House agreed to the motion by voice vote on Sept. 14.
The bill represents much more than a 20-acre land conveyance. It represents years of work by North Carolinians trying to correct a failure in veterans’ care.
The Fayetteville State Veterans Home was North Carolina’s first state veterans home. In 1994, during the administration of then-Gov. Jim Hunt, the state general assembly authorized the home and provided the state matching funds necessary to begin the project. Federal construction funding followed, and the 150-bed facility opened in 1999.
The issues that would eventually plague the home did not emerge overnight.
Hurricane Matthew struck the region in 2016, and Hurricane Florence brought additional flooding and water-intrusion concerns in 2018. Just weeks after Florence, a state facility assessment found that a portion of the roof “leaks badly and needs replacement.”
By 2022, the State Construction Office had identified millions of dollars in structural deficiencies. By late 2023, state officials concluded the facility could no longer remain occupied. Eighty-five veterans from 19 counties were living there when relocation began, and the home closed in February 2024.
What followed did not fit neatly into a partisan blame game. State officials, legislators, veterans, families and community partners worked through a difficult question: What should replace this failed, yet critically important, facility?
At one point, renovation was formally recommended. Ultimately, North Carolina moved toward constructing a new veterans home.
This year, that effort culminated in a state budget providing the funding and authority to rebuild it, including a $40 million state commitment. But money alone could not build the home. North Carolina still needed a place to put it.
A novel solution emerged: approximately 20 acres of federal property at Fort Bragg.
With that solution came a small but consequential legal hurdle. North Carolina could appropriate money for the project, but it could not simply take land belonging to the U.S. Army.
Rep. Hudson and members of North Carolina’s congressional delegation worked to provide the legal pathway. H.R. 10159 would authorize the Secretary of the Army to convey the property to North Carolina for the specific purpose of constructing a state veterans home. It is narrow legislation that solves a specific problem: The state has committed resources, and a parcel has been identified, but North Carolina cannot transfer federal property to itself.
On Sept. 15, H.R. 10159 was received by the U.S. Senate and referred to the Senate Armed Services Committee, where it now awaits further action.
Even if enacted, the work does not end there. A survey acceptable to the Army must establish the parcel, and environmental and real-estate due diligence must occur. North Carolina must cover the conveyance costs.
Those hurdles are why coordination has mattered. Rep. Hudson and Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s administration, as well as North Carolina Secretary of Military and Veterans Affairs Jocelyn Mitnaul Mallette, have each played a role in moving the state and federal pieces toward the same objective.
Coordination with the Department of Veterans Affairs remains another hurdle.
The VA administers the State Home Construction Grant Program, the same type of federal-state partnership that helped make the original Fayetteville home possible. The VA may fund up to 65% of eligible construction or renovation costs. Critically, the program also operates on a calendar: An initial application is due by April 15 for consideration on the following fiscal year’s priority list.
To be sure, Senate passage of H.R. 10159 will not, by itself, build a veterans home. The Army will still have work to do. North Carolina will still have obligations to meet. The VA will still have its own process. But that is exactly why rapid Senate action matters.
Each step has to line up with the next, and the danger is that, after years of work, the project becomes another example of what could have been rather than what government actually delivered.
Earlier this week, I sat in Rep. Hudson’s office and learned more about his senior staff’s efforts to work with the administration of Democratic Gov. Josh Stein on this issue.
As the North Carolina legislative chairman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, what struck me was not that Republicans and Democrats suddenly agreed on everything. They certainly do not. What stood out was that, on this problem, those disagreements did not prevent the work from continuing.
A Democratic governor and his administration, members of a Republican-led general assembly, North Carolina’s congressional delegation, federal agencies, veterans organizations and community leaders have all confronted parts of this problem and diligently sought solutions that bring those pieces together.
The VFW Department of North Carolina supports H.R. 10159 and is calling for prompt consideration by the Senate so Congress can complete its portion of this process.
The state has committed its resources, and the House has acted. These are not easy legislative accomplishments, and they should not be wasted.
For the veterans waiting for a new home, the measure of this effort will not be which party receives the credit. It will be whether government can overcome bureaucracy and partisanship long enough to finish the job.
Tanner Port is a U.S. Army veteran and the national legislative chairman at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of North Carolina.
Read the full article here
