Claiming Credit for the Veterans Choice Act: Trump Repeatedly Said He Signed a Law That Obama Signed in 2014
Tier 3Documented2018-06-01 to 2020-10-23
Factual Summary
The Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014, commonly known as the Veterans Choice Act, was signed into law by President Barack Obama on August 7, 2014. The legislation, championed by Senators John McCain and Bernie Sanders, passed the Senate 91-3 and the House 420-5. It allowed eligible veterans to receive health care from private providers outside the VA system when they faced long wait times or lived far from VA facilities. The law was a direct response to the 2014 VA wait-time scandal, in which veterans died while waiting for care at VA medical centers.
Beginning no later than 2018, Trump repeatedly claimed that he had signed the Veterans Choice Act. He made this claim in speeches, rallies, press conferences, and interviews. He did not merely claim credit for improvements to the veterans' health care system or for his own legislative achievement, the VA MISSION Act of 2018, which modified and expanded the Choice program. He specifically and repeatedly stated that he had passed or signed the Veterans Choice Act itself.
The Washington Post documented that Trump made this false claim at least 156 times between 2018 and 2020. PolitiFact rated the claim as "False." FactCheck.org published a detailed analysis titled "Trump's 'Greatest Idea' for a 2014 Law." The AP fact-checked the claim multiple times, noting that Trump "has taken credit for passage of a law that was in fact signed by President Barack Obama."
On some occasions, Trump not only claimed credit for the law but added fabricated details. He claimed that Congress had tried for decades to pass the law, sometimes saying 44 years or 50 years, and that he finally accomplished it. There is no legislative record supporting these claims. The law was drafted and passed in a matter of months in response to the 2014 scandal.
Trump did sign the VA MISSION Act on June 6, 2018. That law consolidated existing VA community care programs, including the Choice program, into a single framework and made changes to eligibility criteria and provider networks. The MISSION Act was a legitimate legislative achievement, but it was a modification of the existing Choice program, not its creation. Trump's repeated claim that he "signed" or "passed" the Veterans Choice Act conflated his MISSION Act with Obama's 2014 law.
When confronted with the correction during a 2020 interview with Jonathan Swan of Axios, Trump appeared unfamiliar with the distinction.
Primary Sources
1. Public Law 113-146, Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014, signed by President Barack Obama, August 7, 2014
2. Public Law 115-182, VA MISSION Act of 2018, signed by President Trump, June 6, 2018
3. Washington Post Fact Checker database: documentation of Trump repeating the false claim at least 156 times
Corroborating Sources
1. Washington Post: "How Trump took credit for the 2014 VA Choice Act, denying Obama's, McCain's contributions," October 23, 2020
2. FactCheck.org: "Trump's 'Greatest Idea' for a 2014 Law," October 2018
3. PolitiFact: "Donald Trump: GOP just passed veteran's Choice after 44-year wait. Actually, it's 4 years old," October 2, 2018
4. PBS NewsHour / AP: "AP fact check: Trump takes credit for Obama's gains for vets," multiple dates
5. PBS NewsHour / AP: "AP fact check: Trump takes credit for law named after McCain," multiple dates
6. Newsweek: "Fact Check: Did President Trump Pass the VA Choice Act, as He Says?" November 2020
Counterarguments and Context
The VA Secretary under Trump, Robert Wilkie, pushed back against some fact-check coverage, arguing that the original Choice Act was poorly implemented under the Obama administration and that the Trump administration's MISSION Act represented a substantive overhaul that made the program functional. There is merit to the argument that the Trump administration's legislation improved the program. Some Trump supporters argued that his claims about Choice were shorthand for the broader improvements to veterans' health care rather than a deliberate falsehood about which president signed the original law. However, Trump's statements were not ambiguous. He repeatedly and specifically said that he passed or signed the Veterans Choice Act, not that he improved it. He fabricated a legislative history claiming decades of failed attempts. He did not credit Obama or McCain. The claim was fact-checked and debunked by every major fact-checking organization, and Trump continued to repeat it after being corrected.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 3 because the falsehood is documented through primary evidence, including the text of the 2014 law, Trump's recorded and transcribed statements, and the systematic fact-checking by multiple independent organizations. The law was signed by Obama. Trump said he signed it. There is no ambiguity in the factual record.