The Bill Comes Due
Eastern Washington veterans lose their homes. Representative Michael Baumgartner voted to cut the program that was supposed to save them.
Jerry LeClaire and I found each other in prose and intention. We shared a goal that, in the current climate, felt more urgent than either of us wanted to admit: the survival of our democracy.
Jerry graciously gave me a platform to publish my investigative work, and he proved to be a harsh but fair critic. Nothing reached The High Ground until it was polished.
When Jerry disclosed his diagnosis, he asked whether I would take over The High Ground and continue the fight. I am a journalist by training, with a broadcast journalism degree from Gonzaga and years as a television reporter. Jerry knew that. But I understood my role here not as a journalist, but as a curator of what he built: a community, a conversation, and a commitment to this place we share.
I won’t try to replace Jerry LeClaire. I’ll simply keep throwing pebbles.
— Grant Fredericks
A veteran’s home in Spokane has been seized and now belongs to the Department of Veterans Affairs.1 The home was taken by foreclosure from a combat-disabled Marine with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury; from his wife Leann, who serves as his full-time caregiver, and from their 10-year-old son. Freedom Mortgage, a federally approved VA loan servicer,2 foreclosed on the home. The family has been told to leave.
They are not alone. Thousands of veterans have lost VA-backed homes since the VA shut down a federal program that rescued veterans who had fallen behind on their mortgages. Their congressman voted to cut the funding that was supposed to protect their home.3
The family’s name is Ledford. Their congressman is Michael Baumgartner.
57,000 Veterans. One Congressman
The Ledfords are not alone. More than 10,000 veterans have lost their homes to foreclosure since the VA shut down its rescue program in May 2025, according to ICE Mortgage Technology data, the fastest pace in a decade.4 On the day that program closed, 71,981 VA loans were already at least 90 days delinquent, meaning tens of thousands of veterans were already on a path toward foreclosure with no remaining federal program in place to stop it.5
Washington’s 5th Congressional District has one of the largest concentrations of veterans and VA-backed mortgages in the state. More than 57,000 veterans live here.6 In 2025, the VA guaranteed 1,667 home loans in the district, 1,245 of them in Spokane County.7 For many veterans, VA loans are what make homeownership possible.
The Spokane foreclosure happened where the exposure is highest, and it has a specific cause.
The Last Resort
On May 1, 2025, the Department of Veterans Affairs shut down the VA Servicing Purchase Program, known as VASP, the only federal tool available to stop VA loan foreclosures when veterans fell behind on payments.8
VASP was a last-resort program.9 When a borrower could not make payments, VA could step in, buy the loan from the mortgage company, reset the terms, and lower the monthly payment to something the veteran could afford. The loan purchases were authorized under existing law.10 The program gave more than 33,000 veterans fixed 2.5 percent loans.
The VA announced the surprise shutdown of VASP on April 3, 202511 and gave lenders days to adjust before the program was terminated at the end of the month. When borrowers called for help, VA loan technicians admitted they did not know VASP was ending.12 Mortgage companies that manage VA-backed loans said they were scrambling.13 The agency said it is “not set up or intended to be a mortgage loan restructuring service,”14 even though it had launched the program the year before to do exactly that.
In March 2025, the Mortgage Bankers Association warned Congress what would follow without a replacement: “Foreclosure. Period.”15 Less than two months later, the VA shut the program down anyway.
A Program That Did Not Fit the Blueprint
They redefined what the government should pay for. Then they took office and cut a program that did not fit.
Paul R. Lawrence contributed expertise to Project 2025’s chapter on the Department of Veterans Affairs, a policy blueprint developed by conservative organizations to guide the staffing and agenda of a future Republican administration.16 He previously directed the Home Loan Guaranty program as Under Secretary for Benefits during President Trump’s first term.17 He was confirmed as VA Deputy Secretary on March 27, 2025.18 He was serving as VA Deputy Secretary when the VA moved to shut down VASP.
Lawrence’s contribution to the Project 2025 VA chapter was to identify the department’s largest benefit programs and define which functions are part of the agency’s “core mission” and which are not.
“Disability compensation is the largest VA benefit, but there also are dozens of others, the next largest of which are the GI Bill and the Home Loan Guaranty.”19
Russ Vought wrote the budget chapter that describes how that boundary is enforced. He called for aggressive use of federal spending authority to bring agency programs into line with presidential priorities.20 He was confirmed as Director of the Office of Management and Budget on February 6, 2025.21 The VA announced the shutdown of VASP on April 3. The program ended May 1.
A Matter of Public Record
On June 25, 2025, 55 days after the VA shut down its foreclosure rescue program, Rep. Michael Baumgartner voted yes to cut the budget of the office that ran VASP.22 He voted on House Roll Call Vote 182 on H.R. 3944, the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026.23 His vote is a matter of public record.
The bill cut $50,005,577, 15.8%, from the administrative budget of the VA’s Loan Guaranty Service. That is the office responsible for building the only foreclosure prevention program Congress would authorize five weeks later. The number he voted for became law that November, and remained in force as the program failed to launch.24
He was not uninformed. By the time of his vote, the shutdown had been national news for 55 days. Senate data published three weeks earlier showed Washington had 1,843 seriously delinquent VA home loans, the 12th-highest total in the country.25 The day before the vote, Sen. Patty Murray told VA leadership that ending the program “scares veterans.”26
VASP was gone. Congress created a replacement months later, but it worked differently. VASP could lower a veteran’s interest rate and reduce the monthly payment. The new program does not. It brings the loan current but adds a second lien and leaves the payment unchanged, which means the problem that caused the default often remains.
He Called It a Victory
Within hours of the vote, Baumgartner issued a press release. He titled it “Key Victories.”27
The release described the bill as “fully funding veterans’ health care, benefits, and VA programs at $452.64 billion.” That is not accurate. The bill cut the home loan administrative account by $50,005,577. A bill that cuts a program has not fully funded it.
The one achievement he claimed as his own was support for the Volunteer Transportation Network, “an initiative Congressman Baumgartner strongly advocated for.” The provision carried no dollar amount. It directed the VA to encourage increased funding. It did not appropriate a dollar.28
The press release did not mention VASP, its shutdown, or the program meant to replace it. It did not mention the foreclosure crisis, the thousands of veterans who had already lost their homes, or any veterans in his district at risk of losing theirs.
He called it a victory. He used the word lifeline.
That Lifeline Is Gone
Congress did pass a replacement. H.R. 1815 became law on July 30, 2025. It allows the VA to bring a loan current by deferring missed payments as a second lien. But it does not lower the interest rate or reduce the monthly payment. VASP did. That lifeline is gone.29
Nine months after it became law, a VA official told Congress it was still launching “in the upcoming months.”30 The same office responsible for building the partial claim program is the office whose budget Baumgartner voted to cut.
Under the VA’s draft rules, veterans must go through six steps before they are offered this relief.31 A veteran already struggling with a $2,000 mortgage can be pushed into a $2,300 payment first. The Mortgage Bankers Association told the VA in March 2026 that the draft framework would leave veterans with worse options than borrowers in other federal programs.32
Baumgartner has not addressed any of this.
For veterans in WA-5, the bill is not finished. It is still coming due.
Endnotes
1. Chris Arnold and Quil Lawrence, Trump’s VA Killed a Home Loan Program. Vets Are Now Losing Their Homes Because of It, KUOW/NPR, April 2, 2026. https://www.kuow.org/stories/trump-s-va-killed-a-home-loan-program-vets-are-now-losing-their-homes-because-of-it
2. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, FY2025 VA-Guaranteed Home Loan Lender Statistics. https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/documents/lender-statistics/fy25-lenders-total.xlsx
3. U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Clerk, Roll Call Vote 182, 119th Congress, 1st Session, June 25, 2025. https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2025182
4. Arnold and Lawrence, KUOW/NPR, April 2, 2026. See note 1.
5. U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, VA Home Loan Serious Delinquencies by State (as of May 1, 2025), published June 4, 2025. https://www.veterans.senate.gov/services/files/0BC142A6-2B47-4F9A-8EB5-7007E554FB19
6. Washington Department of Veterans Affairs, County Veteran Population Counts, September 30, 2025. https://dva.wa.gov/resources/county-map
7. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, FY2025 VA-Guaranteed Home Loan County Statistics. https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/documents/lender-statistics/fy25-counties-total.xlsx
8. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Circular 26-25-02: VA Servicing Purchase (VASP) Program Wind Down, April 23, 2025. https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/documents/circulars/26-25-02.pdf
9. Arnold and Lawrence, KUOW/NPR, April 2, 2026. See note 1.
10. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, FY2025 Agency Financial Report, January 2026. https://department.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2025-Department-of-Veterans-Affairs-FY-2025-Agency-Financial-Report-AFR-Final.pdf
11. Quil Lawrence, Trump’s VA Is Ending a Rescue Program That’s Saved 17,000 Military Veterans’ Homes, NPR, April 3, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/04/03/nx-s1-5351768/trumps-va-is-ending-a-rescue-program-thats-saved-17-000-military-veterans-homes
12. Arnold and Lawrence, KUOW/NPR, April 2, 2026. See note 1.
13. Lawrence, NPR, April 3, 2025. See note 11.
14. Quil Lawrence, NPR, April 3, 2025 (VA press secretary statement). See note 11. Note: The VA VASP Closeout FAQ uses slightly different language — “VA is not structured to serve as a mortgage loan restructuring service” — and is available at https://benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/vasp-process-faq.asp
15. Arnold and Lawrence, KUOW/NPR, April 2, 2026 (attribution to Elizabeth Balce, Mortgage Bankers Association, March 11, 2025 congressional testimony). See note 1. Hearing record: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, H. Rept. 119-104, VA Home Loan Program Reform Act, May 19, 2025. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-119hrpt104/html/CRPT-119hrpt104.htm
16. Military.com, Nominee for VA Deputy Role Questioned by Senate over Firings, Elon Musk Access to Veterans’ Info, February 19, 2025 (confirms Lawrence “lent expertise” to Project 2025’s VA chapter). https://www.military.com/daily-news/2025/02/19/nominee-va-deputy-role-questioned-senate-over-firings-elon-musk-access-veterans-info.html Chapter 20 content: The Heritage Foundation et al., Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project, 2023. https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
17. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, press release: VA Announces Confirmation of Paul Lawrence as Under Secretary for Benefits, May 14, 2018. https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=4089
18. U.S. Congress, Nomination Record, 119th Congress — Paul R. Lawrence, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, confirmed March 27, 2025, 51–45. https://www.congress.gov/nomination/119th-congress/13/9
19. Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, Chapter 20, p. 643. See note 16.
20. Project 2025, Mandate for Leadership, Chapter 2, Executive Office of the President and Office of Management and Budget (authored by Russ Vought). See note 16.
21. U.S. Senate, Roll Call Vote 37, 119th Congress, 1st Session, February 6, 2025 — confirmation of Russell T. Vought as OMB Director, 53–47. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00037.htm
22. See note 3.
23. U.S. Congress, H.R. 3944, 119th Congress. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3944
24. H.R. 3944, enacted text, Veterans Housing Benefit Program Fund — Administrative Expenses: $266,736,842 (FY2026) vs. $316,742,419 (FY2025 baseline). https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3944/text FY2025 baseline established in H.Rept. 119-161. https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CRPT-119hrpt161/CRPT-119hrpt161 Note: H.R. 3944’s VA provisions were incorporated as Division D of P.L. 119-37 (H.R. 5371), signed November 12, 2025. The dollar figures and enactment date are correct. The vote record cited throughout the article refers to H.R. 3944, which is the specific bill on which Roll Call Vote 182 was cast.
25. U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, VA Home Loan Serious Delinquencies by State (as of May 1, 2025), June 4, 2025. See note 5.
26. Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray, press release: Senator Murray Presses Secretary Collins on Politicization of VA’s Work Jeopardizing Care for Veterans, June 24, 2025. https://www.murray.senate.gov/senator-murray-presses-secretary-collins-on-politicization-of-vas-work-jeopardizing-care-for-veterans/
27. Office of Rep. Michael Baumgartner, press release: Baumgartner Celebrates Key Victories in FY2026 MilCon-VA Appropriations Bill, June 25, 2025. https://baumgartner.house.gov/media/press-releases/baumgartner-celebrates-key-victories-fy2026-milcon-va-appropriations-bill
28. H.R. 3944, enacted text (P.L. 119-37). See note 24.
29. U.S. Congress, H.R. 1815, VA Home Loan Program Reform Act (Public Law 119-31), enacted July 30, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1815 Congressional Budget Office, Cost Estimate for H.R. 1815. https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61402
30. Patrick Zondervan, Executive Director, VA Loan Guaranty Service, written testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, hearing: Kitchen Table Issues: Lowering Costs for Veteran Families Through the VA Home Loan Program, March 26, 2026. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR10/20260326/119104/HHRG-119-VR10-Wstate-ZondervanP-20260326.pdf
31. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Servicer Handbook M26-4, Draft Chapter 5: Loss Mitigation, February 2026. https://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/drafting-table/draft-documents/m26-4-chapter-5-loss-mitigation-draft.pdf
32. Mortgage Bankers Association, letter to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs regarding draft partial claim program and loss-mitigation waterfall, March 2026. https://www.mba.org/docs/default-source/advertising/mba-response-to-va-draft-of-pc-and-waterfall-changes.pdf