Imperial Valley News

Washington, DC - House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) today introduced H.R. 6939, The Veterans Health Care Budget Reform Act, legislation to ensure that VA health care funding is sufficient, timely and predictable.  Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC), Michael Michaud (D-ME), and Phil Hare (D-IL) cosponsored the bipartisan bill in the House. 

Filner called the legislation, “a historic new approach to guarantee that our veterans have access to comprehensive, quality health care that they deserve and have earned.  There is no greater priority facing our nation than providing health care to our veterans and we must be willing to pay the cost, whatever that cost may be.  For too many years, VA has had to make do with insufficient budgets resulting in restricted access for many veterans.  When funding is short, it is our veterans who pay the price.”

H.R. 6939 would authorize Congress to approve VA medical care appropriations one year in advance of the start of each fiscal year.  Unlike proposals to convert VA health care to a mandatory funding program, an advance appropriation does not create PAYGO concerns since VA health care funding would remain discretionary.  In addition, an advance appropriation would provide VA with up to a year in which to plan how to deliver the most efficient and effective care to an increasing number of veterans with increasingly complex medical conditions.  Over the past six years VA has not received its final budget until more than three months after the start of the fiscal year, which resulted not only in delays in planned expansions of care for veterans, but also challenged VA to efficiently manage the system.

“There is no question that we’ve made great strides towards correcting these funding problems during the past two years,” said Chairman Filner.  “However, this new legislation offers us a historic opportunity to permanently reform the VA health care budget process in a commonsense way to help ensure that future generations never again face these kinds of problems.”

Filner’s bill would also task the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) with studying and reporting to Congress for the next three years on VA’s budget forecasting model and estimates.  By shedding sunlight on VA’s internal budget process, Congress will have a much greater ability and incentive to develop appropriation bills that provide sufficient funding to meet the best estimate of anticipated demand for VA health care services in future years.

“We applaud Chairmen Filner and Akaka as well as the other original cosponsors for bringing forward a true, long term solution to VA’s health care funding problems,” said VFW National Commander Glen Gardner, speaking on behalf of the Partnership for Veterans Health Care Budget Reform, which includes nine of the nation’s largest veterans service organizations representing over eight million members.  “America’s veterans deserve access to quality health care.  This legislation would accomplish that and we look forward to working with the Chairmen and others to enact the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform Act as soon as possible,” he said.