Oklahoma has seven veteran centers in the state that offer care but operating those are becoming difficult because of budget cuts and lack of additional federal funding.

The Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs has seen its budget shrink over the last three years. It saw another budget slash for fiscal year 2018. The ODVA will be losing a little more than $200,000.

Oklahoma Sen. Paul Scott says the state is actively searching for additional funding.

“We’re trying to reach out and get more federal funding to repair those,” Sen. Scott said. “Salaries are very difficult right now to be competitive in salaries with some of the federal funding that we have. A lot of the hospital’s and other facilities are able to pay more.”

Sen. Scott says there’s a lot of veteran help around the state that aren’t funded federally and those seem to be doing well. The state VA needs more funding so that it can offer more money to doctors which in turn means more quality care.