White House submits formal request for VA credit monitoring funds

The White House formally submitted a request on Wednesday for $160.5 million to cover the cost of one year of free credit monitoring for the millions of veterans affected by last month's theft of sensitive information from a Veterans Administration employee's computer.

The money would be on top of $1.2 billion appropriated for VA information technology accounts in fiscal 2006, and would be fully offset by reductions elsewhere in the budget.

"The offsets identified would not impact current operations and were not expected to be obligated this year," Office of Management and Budget Director Rob Portman wrote in a letter to President Bush.

The largest offset, $49.1 million, would come from unspent balances in the Labor Department's "Responsible Reintegration of Youthful Offenders" program, which the administration targeted for elimination this year. Another $40 million would come from Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers, which OMB said has significant unused funds, and $20 million would be taken from Food Stamp Employment and Training, which has carryover balances from previous years.

Other offsets include $29 million from fiscal 2006 VA operating expenses, as the agency does not expect to hire new employees until the next fiscal year. Remaining offsets, all under $10 million, include unused funds for high-speed rail, IRS personnel, and the Health Professions Student Loans program, which has not received new funding since 1984.