House passes $3B VA supplemental budget ahead of Friday deadline

Legislation to cover a $3 billion shortfall in veterans’ benefits through the end of the month passed the House Tuesday, three days before benefits could be disrupted.  

Lawmakers passed the Veterans Benefits Continuity and Accountability Supplemental Appropriations Act by voice vote Tuesday evening, sending it to the Senate ahead of a Friday deadline to ensure the Veterans Affairs Department can process benefit payments for 7 million veterans. 

House Republicans — led by Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif. — introduced the bill less than two weeks ago to help make up an extra $2.89 billion in additional costs at the Veteran Benefits Administration.

“We’re not just throwing money at the problem. This bill includes critical oversight measures to ensure that every dollar is spent appropriately, and we’re going to get answers about how the VA allowed this to happen in the first place,” said Garcia in a statement. “Our veterans deserve better than bureaucratic failures, and we owe it to them to fix this broken system.”

The supplemental funding is meant to cover the fiscal 2024 portion of a projected $15 billion shortfall expected between now and fiscal 2025. VA officials informed the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee of the shortfall in July, saying that it was tied to compensation and pension, as well as readjustment benefit costs originating out of the VBA.

VA officials also projected a potential $11.97 billion shortfall in fiscal 2025 due to rising hiring and pharmaceutical costs within the Veterans Health Administration.

The House bill would also require the VA to provide a report to relevant House and Senate committees on the status of the requested funding for fiscal 2024, 2025 and 2026 within 60 days of enactment and update them every 90 days until Sept. 30, 2026. 

The VA inspector general would also examine the underlying cause of both the VBA and VHA shortfalls and report to the relevant committees within 180 days under provisions in the bill. 

After the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act expanded VA benefits eligibility for veterans with 23 respiratory illnesses related to burn pits used by the military, VA began ramping up hiring efforts, including 61,000 new hires at the VHA in fiscal 2023, to be able to manage a growing influx of patients and beneficiaries.  

But in January, Government Executive learned that portions of the VA network had been limiting hiring to cover budget shortfalls, with some deploying “‘cost avoidance strategies’ that included ‘strategic hiring/onboarding,’ overtime reductions, travel limitations and other efforts.”

Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., said in a statement Tuesday that it was critical that the Senate move with haste to pass the legislation. 

“Funding veterans benefits is a cost of war that must always be paid—plain and simple,” he said. “The fact is, VA is providing more disability benefits to more veterans and survivors than ever before, including toxic exposure-related benefits, and that is a good thing. We have a sacred responsibility to provides veterans and their families certainty their benefit checks will arrive on time in 14 days, and I urge my Senate colleagues to put veterans first and pass this funding bill immediately.”