The US House Committee for Veterans’ Affairs (VA) has unanimously passed a motion that will mean Oracle executive chairman and chief technology officer, Larry Ellison, and the company’s current CEO, Mike Sicilia, will be called to testify over overspend on a major electronic healthcare records system.
Wednesday’s House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs oversight hearing on the Electronic Health Record Modernisation (EHRM) programme raised questions over why costs of the system had escalated.
Last month, the VA raised the ceiling on Oracle’s electronic health record modernisation contract from $10bn to over $27bn through a no-bid extension. Congresswoman Maxine Dexter called on Oracle executives to testify under oath about the $17bn increase, the company’s performance, and whether veterans and taxpayers are getting what they were promised.
The Electronic Health Record system contract, originally signed during the first Trump administration, connects VA medical facilities with the Department of War, the US Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and participating community care providers. It is being deployed to enable clinicians to access a veteran’s full medical history in one location.
However, the programme has overrun and is over budget. The US Government Accountability Office has previously raised concerns about the VA’s electronic health record modernisation effort. As of August 2026, VA had not fully implemented 14 of GAO’s 18 recommendations related to cost estimates, scheduling, programme management, user adoption, satisfaction and operational testing.
Of the 170 health clinics the VA had been tasked with managing through the EHRM programme, only 17 have been completed, according to Nikki Budzinski, ranking member of the subcommittee on technology modernisation, which holds jurisdiction over the EHRM programme. She described the low deployment number as “ridiculous”.
Addressing Paul Lawrence, chief operating officer at the VA, congresswoman Budzinski, said: “You have had eight years at the VA to execute on this, and quite frankly this is all just an overrun cost. You are not managing this project. This is just a blank cheque for Oracle.”
When asked who is responsible for the programme, Lawrence said another team was until he took over the job in 2025.
Budzinski also raised questions over why the VA had not hired a chief information officer until March 2025, and asked if Oracle would be returning to Congress in two years to ask for more money. Lawrence claimed Oracle would not be asking for more money to complete the project.
Mark Takano, the democratic ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, said: “On the top of the $10bn already blown through in eight years, [you are] throwing $17bn at Larry Ellison, whose company already said that it would eat the cost.”
“When the company responsible for a taxpayer-funded contract that could grow from $10bn to roughly $27bn refuses to sit before Congress and answer questions, this committee cannot fully do its job,” said Dexter. “Veterans deserve a health records system that works, and taxpayers deserve to know their money is being spent responsibly. A private, closed-door roundtable cannot replace public congressional oversight. Oracle’s leaders must appear before this committee and answer for this contract.”
