House bill would ensure VA mandatory funding

House bill would ensure VA mandatory funding

Legislation introduced Dec. 9 in the House of Representatives would guarantee advance appropriations for Department of Veterans Affairs mandatory funding that was threatened when the federal government nearly shut down in October 2013.

The FY 2015 omnibus bill for military construction and VA appropriations (H.R. 83) would provide advance appropriations in fiscal 2016 to the Veterans Benefits Administration for the mandatory funding of veterans’ benefits and pensions. It would also provide about $59 billion for VA’s FY 2016 medical programs.

The American Legion has repeatedly called upon Congress to provide advance funding for all VA programs, and to protect them from government shutdown. “We brought this danger to the attention of Capitol Hill last year when America’s veterans were about two weeks away from losing their monthly benefits payments,” said Verna Jones, executive director of the Legion's Washington office.

“No one who has served in the military should ever worry about their benefits check not showing up in the mail because of a breakdown on Capitol Hill. We understand that bipartisanship is often elusive here in Washington, but that is no justification for making one single veteran suffer financially.”

Last year, Jones said The American Legion contacted the VA Comptroller’s Office and found out that mandatory VA funding was not protected from government shutdown. “That’s when we realized the seriousness of the problem, and we are encouraged to see Congress moving forward to correct it,” she said.For the current fiscal year, VA would get a total budget of $159.1 billion in mandatory and discretionary funding for fiscal 2015, which includes about $45 billion for medical services.

Other fiscal 2015 funding provisions include:

  • $2.5 billion for disability claims processing to help VA eliminate the claims backlog by the end of 2015 (it currently stands at about 244,000).

  • $99 million for the Board of Veterans Appeals to handle appeals of claims decisions.

  • $562 million for major construction (an increase of $220 million over FY 2014).

  • $344 million for VA and the Department of Defense to develop compatible electronic health records.

  • $209 million for new costs related to the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014.An additional $5 million in funding for the Office of Inspector General to continue its audits of VA hospital appointment scheduling and lapses in patient care.

The bill also provides $6.6 billion for FY 2015 military construction projects, a decrease of $3.3 billion from FY 2014 funding levels.