By Bridget Bowman and Humberto Sanchez and JM Rieger

Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., announced a bipartisan VA health care deal Thursday afternoon. Sanders, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs chairman, and McCain met Thursday to negotiate a bipartisan response to the scandal at the VA — and they announced the deal on the Senate floor. “We were able to come together, I believe, in a way that will help to relieve this terrible tragedy that seems to have befallen our nation’s veterans,” McCain said. “We both had to make some very tough compromises.” “Our job was to sit down and work out the best agreement. We did,” Sanders said. “Does it solve all of the problems facing our veterans? Absolutely not.”