President Joe Biden campaigned on a bold platform to modernize and “refresh” Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals and clinics across the country so as to “serve our veterans better” and ensure the VA “continues to lead in providing 21st century care.”

At the end of March, he followed through on that pledge with a proposal — the American Jobs Plan — that includes $18 billion to improve VA hospitals, two-thirds of which are over 50 years old.

Biden’s plan calls for $3 billion to immediately rectify unsafe or inefficient conditions inside VA health care facilities, upgrade buildings to support the growing number of women veterans, and enhance campuses so that aging veterans can better access high-quality health care more quickly. The plan also includes $15 billion to totally replace 10 to 15 of the most neglected medical centers with new state-of-the-art facilities.