Veterans Affairs officials say they are meeting requirements laid down in a 2010 law mandating the agency to improve health care to veterans and their families. But not everyone agrees, The Associated Press is reporting.

Those who fought for Congress to pass the legislation say the VA has not created an adequate peer-support network needed to help combat veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan cope with their experiences. And, the veterans groups say, the VA has not done enough to let family members of reservists and Guard members get access to the VA's mental health facilities, as required in the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2010.

VA officials argue that they already have programs in place that let veterans meet with veterans to share their experiences.

In the AP report, Dr. Jan Kemp, director of the VA's suicide prevention program, said the 2010 legislation lets the agency "reinforce what we're already doing."

Critics, however, claim that prior studies have shown that accessing that care has historically been a struggle for many veterans.

In the AP story, Ralph Ibson, the Wounded Warrior Project's national policy director, said that the VA's assertion that it is already in compliance is essentially to say that "Congress is an ass."

Two lawmakers in the House Committee on Veterans Affairs said they felt the VA was not doing enough.

"I think they're failing to communicate, failing to coordinate and failing to understand that there was a significant attempt to give our veterans and their families what they needed," said Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle, R-N.Y., the chairwoman of the committee's health subcommittee. "I don't think they're getting it done," she said of the VA.

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