--- title: Barack Obama to Mark Progress on Veterans Issues in Atlanta description: President Obama will note the progress made to help veterans from tackling homelessness to improving access to health care. canonical: https://time.com/4432859/barack-obama-veterans-progress/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-01T15:10:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:41:04.360Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama to Tout Progress on Veterans Issues Monday og:description: From tackling homelessness to improving access to health care. og:url: https://time.com/4432859/barack-obama-veterans-progress/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ba5a1870f959453/6988a092e20a8781c5a91ddf/barack-obama-veterans.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama speaks during the 75th Anniversary USO Show at Joint Base Andrews on May 5, 2016 in Camp Springs, Md. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama to Tout Progress on Veterans Issues Monday twitter:description: From tackling homelessness to improving access to health care. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ba5a1870f959453/6988a092e20a8781c5a91ddf/barack-obama-veterans.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Obama to Tout Progress on Veterans Issues Monday > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=03d8cda4-2367-44ae-b3a2-9ed6d4b8ef0c&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Aug 1, 2016 3:10 PM UTC  President Barack Obama speaks during the 75th Anniversary USO Show at Joint Base Andrews on May 5, 2016 in Camp Springs, Md. President Barack Obama speaks during the 75th Anniversary USO Show at Joint Base Andrews on May 5, 2016 in Camp Springs, Md. Kris Connor—WireImage by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Aug 1, 2016 3:10 PM UTC President Obama will note the progress his administration has made to help veterans in a speech at the [Disabled American Veterans’ National Conference in Atlanta](https://www.dav.org/learn-more/about-dav/mission-statement/)—from tackling homelessness to improving access to health care. Obama will deliver remarks at the 95th DAV convention on Monday where he’ll tout his commitment to veterans issues. Since 2010, he’ll announce, the Obama administration has worked with state and local governments to cut veteran homelessness almost in half. Ending veteran homelessness was a key component of the Obama administration’s Opening Doors initiative, which sought to tackle the issue by 2015. In 2016, less than 40,000 veterans were counted among the nation’s homeless, down from the [47,725 homeless vets the Department of Housing and Urban Development counted ](https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/2015-AHAR-Part-1.pdf)in January 2015\. Since 2010, the administration says, the homeless veteran population has fallen by 47%; the population of veterans living on the streets has declined by 56% in that same amount of time. President Obama has faced harsh criticism for his administration’s handling of veterans issues, particularly those issues involving the Department of Veterans Affairs. A 2014 _CNN_ investigation found that [dozens of veterans had died waiting to receive care](http://www.cnn.com/specials/us/va-hospitals) at veteran health facilities. An internal audit found widespread wait-time problems at VA health facilities paired with the falsification of records by officials. On Monday, Obama will tout progress made in regard to veterans’ health, including a “historic” number of veterans—58 million—who have been served at VA facilities over the past year. According to the administration,97% of veterans complete their appointments within 30 days of the date they request and that 90% of veterans are “either satisfied or completely satisfied with the timeliness of their care.” A [Government Accountability Office](http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-16-562T) report from April 2016, however, found that newly enrolled veterans face waits ranging from 22 to 71 days for primary care; many are not able to access care because of poor scheduling practices. The White House has said there’s still a lot of work to be done to increase veterans’ access to care and the president will touch on their continued efforts in his Monday address, including expanding telemedicine, increasing clinical hours, and making more space available for care inside of VA facilities. The president’s 2017 budget request included $75 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, money he’d hope would support his efforts to improve health care and curb homelessness Homelessness and healthcare are among the five issues the president will outline in his Monday afternoon speech, which will also touch on economic opportunities his administration has fought to secure for vets. Veteran unemployment is down to 4.2% in 2016 from 9.9% in 2011, according to the administration, and the unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans is 4.4%. First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden’s [Joining Forces Initiative](https://www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces) is leading the charge to urge businesses to hire vets. The president’s remarks come amid a campaign season that’s put veterans issues at the forefront. Republican Presidential nominee [Donald Trump has put forward a plan to overhaul the VA](https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/veterans-administration-reforms) by expanding veterans’ access to private care and making it easier to fire under-performing executives. Democratic nominee[ Hillary Clinton has also proposed reforms](https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/veterans/) including modernizing the VA system and putting veterans first within it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4432859/barack-obama-veterans-progress/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4432859/barack-obama-veterans-progress/"},"headline":"President Obama to Tout Progress on Veterans Issues Monday","datePublished":"2016-08-01T15:10:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:41:04.360Z","description":"President Obama will note the progress made to help veterans from tackling homelessness to improving access to health care.","url":"https://time.com/4432859/barack-obama-veterans-progress/","keywords":["Military","Veterans","Barack Obama","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ba5a1870f959453/6988a092e20a8781c5a91ddf/barack-obama-veterans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ba5a1870f959453/6988a092e20a8781c5a91ddf/barack-obama-veterans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Barack Obama speaks during the 75th Anniversary USO Show at Joint Base Andrews on May 5, 2016 in Camp Springs, Md.","caption":"President Barack Obama speaks during the 75th Anniversary USO Show at Joint Base Andrews on May 5, 2016 in Camp Springs, Md.","creditText":"Kris Connor—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4432859/barack-obama-veterans-progress/","name":"President Obama to Tout Progress on Veterans Issues Monday"}}]}] ```