Republicans in the House of Representatives on Friday presented an emergency funding plan to address the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)’s roughly $3 billion budget deficit.
Republicans on the House Budget Committee, along with Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost (R-Illinois), introduced the bill called the Veterans Benefits Continuity and Accountability Supplemental Appropriations Act.
“My bill aims to ensure our veterans receive the care they deserve while holding those responsible accountable,” House Appropriations Committee member Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) said in a statement Friday. “We must fix what’s broken, not just fund it, and ensure our heroes are never left behind by this administration’s failures.”
His comments come at a time when the VA is under increasing scrutiny, particularly from Republicans. Officials warn that benefits for millions of veterans are at risk in the coming weeks.
The VA is calling on Congress to provide approximately $3 billion in mandatory performance funds for fiscal year 2024, as well as around 12 billion dollars more than the government requested for health care in fiscal year 2025.
The VA has cited the PACT Act, a landmark law passed with bipartisan support in 2022, as a major cause of the budget shortfall, pointing to an escalate in VA health care enrollment, appointments and application services. Officials have also indicated that more funding may be needed in recent months as the VA has continued to ramp up its outreach efforts.
“These important results for veterans and survivors exceeded even the wildest projections and expectations,” an agency spokesman said.
Payments of compensation and pension benefits, as well as rehabilitation benefits for veterans, could be delayed if Congress does not provide additional funding by Sept. 20, the VA told lawmakers earlier this year.
House Republicans have not yet specified when the bill might come to a vote. GOP leaders are also Preparing for the introduction of a transitional measure to fund the government beyond the September 30 shutdown deadline.
House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma) called the deficit “a blatant failure” of the Biden administration in a statement Friday, describing it as one of the VA’s “largest financial discrepancies in recent history.”
“It also represents a serious departure from their budget proposal that they presented just a few months ago. Our heroes deserve more than this incompetence. With this bill, we are ensuring that the promised benefits continue to be secured and providing the necessary oversight to ensure full accountability and transparency.”
The five-page bill that Republicans introduced on Friday contains similar language to a bill introduced by a bipartisan group of senators a few weeks ago.
The bill provides $2.9 billion in additional funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, including about $2.3 billion to go to the Veterans Benefits Administration for compensation and pensions and about $597 million for rehabilitation benefits.
The bill also requires the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to look for ways to improve forecasts and budget assumptions, while directing the Department of Veterans Affairs Inspector General to review the circumstances that led to the budget gap.
