I really thought the Senate was going to have another partisan dogfight over reforming the DoVA, but it appears now that will not happen:

Bernie Sanders, John McCain strike VA deal

Sens. Bernie Sanders and John McCain have struck a deal on legislation to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs to expand veterans’ access to health care and make it easier to fire VA officials for misconduct.

The compromise measure, announced Thursday on the Senate floor, includes pieces of three VA bills that have been introduced in the Senate.

The legislation would allow veterans to see private doctors outside the VA system if they experience long wait times or live more than 40 miles from a VA facility. And it incorporates provisions from legislation introduced in the Senate by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) making it easier to fire VA officials.

Similar legislation overwhelmingly passed the House last month and is included in the Sanders-McCain deal with the addition of an appellate process.

The bill also includes the construction of 26 new VA medical facilities in 18 states and uses $500 million in unobligated VA funds to hire additional VA doctors and nurses.

SNIP

Sanders said that the measure includes some provisions that both sides will object to, but the bill was an important step forward to responding to the VA wait list scandal that led to the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, a retired four-star Army general.

“I would have written a very, very different bill,” Sanders said. “Right now we have a crisis on our hands, and its imperative that we will deal with that crisis.”

I must say that Sen. Sanders surprised me on this bill with his willingness to compromise. I want to thank both him and John McCain as well as Senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Patty Murray (D, WA) for acting like adults and getting the job done. This was a show of sanity too rarely seen in Congress today.