{"id":238188,"date":"2026-04-07T03:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T03:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/238188\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T03:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T03:58:07","slug":"trump-plans-to-fund-new-veterans-affairs-medical-center-in-san-antonio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/238188\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump plans to fund new Veterans Affairs medical center in San Antonio"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">SAN ANTONIO \u2013 President Donald Trump\u2019s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 includes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ksat.com\/news\/local\/2026\/04\/06\/proposed-2027-federal-budget-includes-30-million-for-new-veterans-medical-center-in-san-antonio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.ksat.com\/news\/local\/2026\/04\/06\/proposed-2027-federal-budget-includes-30-million-for-new-veterans-medical-center-in-san-antonio\/\">$30 million for land acquisition<\/a> for the site of a new veteran medical center in San Antonio. If approved, a new center would replace the current Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The potential acquisition is described as \u201ca necessary first step to address the growing veteran population in that area (San Antonio)\u201d in the proposed budget. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">It\u2019s an initiative that San Antonio Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones has been in favor of for some time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cUnfortunately, the number of veterans that have died by suicide, a big chunk of those folks were not receiving the benefits they earned when they did that,\u201d Jones said. \u201cAs easy as we can make it for my fellow veterans to get the care that they need, all the better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Jones previously sent a letter to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas Collins on March 10 expressing the support and need for a new VA medical center in San Antonio.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cThis investment is essential to ensuring that veterans across our community have access to modern, high-quality inpatient and outpatient services, including enhanced specialty care, mental health services and other critical clinical programs delivered throughout the region,\u201d Jones wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Jones also outlined multiple factors she believes demonstrate the need for a new medical facility to replace the Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital:<\/p>\n<p>In the region, 64% of veteran healthcare enrollees are under 64 years old, which is higher than the national average.<\/p>\n<p>The South Texas Veterans Healthcare System has only 27 beds despite being the second-busiest emergency department within the Veterans Health Administration.<\/p>\n<p>The number of female veterans receiving health care in South Texas is expected to increase significantly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWe only have one VA hospital, right, for the entire community,\u201d Jones said. \u201cSo that VA hospital has to be top-notch, and I\u2019m glad that we\u2019re taking this first step.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital officially opened and accepted its first patient back in 1973. Jones said the new facility would be needed to meet \u201c21st century clinical standards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">\u201cWhen we look at how many emergency beds they have, for example, it\u2019s a small fraction of what we actually need, especially when you look at the number of new VA facilities that have been built in other communities throughout Texas,\u201d Jones told KSAT.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Read also:<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by KSAT &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 President Donald Trump\u2019s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 includes $30 million for land acquisition&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[145,918,2112,2672,82,84,83,5018],"class_list":["post-238188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-donald-trump","tag-economy","tag-gina-ortiz-jones","tag-military","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-veterans-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}