A key Senate Republican is demanding a full investigation into whistleblowers’ accusations that Veterans Crisis Line staffers are ignoring calls from some hostile or problematic veterans rather than providing prompt emergency mental health care.
In a letter to Department of Veterans Affairs leadership sent Tuesday, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, said the allegations represent “gross mismanagement creating a danger to the health and safety of veterans nationwide.”
Republican committee staffers said officials from the Government Accountability Office have already committed to investigating the claims, filed by multiple current and former staffers of the suicide prevention hotline to Moran’s office in recent weeks.
Veterans Affairs officials did not respond to requests for comment on the whistleblower complaints.
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The Veterans Crisis Line has seen a rapid expansion in recent years, growing from about 900 full-time employees in early 2021 to more than 1,800 today. It has also seen a dramatic rise in demand since last summer, when federal officials launched a new three-digit dialing system — 988 — for individuals seeking emergency mental health care.
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