Some heavy hitters on both sides of the aisle in the Senate filed legislation on Monday to provide the Department of Veterans Affairs with the supplemental appropriations the agency says it needs by Sept. 20 in order ensure millions of veterans don’t see delayed benefit payments.
Sen. Sherrod Brown along with the top Senate appropriators and authorizers on veterans issues, introduced a bill that would provide the agency with an extra $2.9 billion. Most of the money would go to compensation and pensions, with $597 million going toward readjustment benefits, which help veterans and their families transition to civilian life.
The VA reported the shortfall to Congress in mid-July, and said an additional $12 billion is needed in discretionary accounts for fiscal 2025 medical care, on top of what was provided in the March appropriations package and the fiscal 2025 House and Senate Military Construction-VA appropriations bills.
Brown’s bill would not appropriate that health care funding, instead focusing on the shorter-term need. The VA says the funding shortfall is due to a much higher-than-expected number of veterans seeking care following the implementation of the 2022 law that expanded benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins while serving overseas.
[Related: Massive veterans budget gap rips hole in appropriations process]
Without the funding from Congress, 7 million veterans and their survivors would be at risk of not receiving their pension and other benefits as scheduled on Oct. 1.
“We can’t deny the brave veterans who sacrificed to protect our country the benefits they’ve earned, because VA doesn’t have the resources,” Brown said in a statement.
The embattled Ohio Democrat is facing a tough race this November in an increasingly red state. One of his co-sponsors, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Jon Tester of Montana, is the other incumbent Democrat considered to be highly vulnerable this fall.
Other co-sponsors include Appropriations Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., and the top Republican on that panel, Susan Collins of Maine. Senate Military Construction-VA Appropriations Chair Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., and her ranking member John Boozman, R-Ark., as well as Senate Veterans’ Affairs ranking member Jerry Moran, R-Kan., are also on board.
The bill would require the Government Accountability Office to review the circumstances surrounding the shortfall and possible remedies the department can take in the future to avoid similar situations. It also would mandate the Office of Management and Budget to submit revised budget estimates for fiscal 2025 within 30 days, and the VA secretary to submit a report identifying cost savings measures within the VA’s central office.
Collins, Moran and Boozman all criticized the VA for their late notification of the shortfall last week, with Moran saying the VA was guilty of “significant financial mismanagement” and “incompetence.”
House Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., highlighted the issue earlier this month. And House Republican appropriators are seeking information on how the new estimates were formulated and why they are so different from President Joe Biden’s budget request, according to a committee aide.
“We — and the authorizing committee — are also asking why these potential shortfalls were disclosed so late in the process and what oversights at the department level occurred in the budget formulation process,” the aide said.
Great expectations
Bost had sent a July 17 letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough asking similar questions, which McDonough responded to late last week.
McDonough wrote in a letter dated July 26 that increased demand “exceeded the most aggressive expectations,” with over 412,000 new veterans enrolled over the past year. The projected 127 million health care appointments is set to be the most ever, he wrote, exceeding the previous record of 120 million set last year.
The benefits account needs more funding due to increased demand, McDonough wrote. The VA is on pace to deliver 30 percent more disability compensation and pension benefits this year, he wrote.
The readjustment benefits account needs additional money as the VA is providing GI Bill education benefits to 940,000 veterans and beneficiaries in 2024, which is an 18 percent increase from 2023, McDonough said.
McDonough defended the timing of the department’s notification of the gap, and noted he testified to the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee in the spring that the VA’s outreach campaign could lead to the need for more funding.
“I pledged then that if we did end up needing additional funding, we could come forward,” McDonough wrote. “Accordingly, we look forward to working with you closely to address these needs in a way that ensures no veterans will be adversely impacted and that we can continue to deliver care and benefits to veterans at record rates.”
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