
The Department of Veterans Affairs would see its its budget swell by about $8.5 billion, or more than 8%, under President Joe Biden's 2022 budget proposal the White House revealed on Friday.
That increase brings VA's total discretionary spending for 2022 up to $113.1 billion, adding more funding for suicide prevention, medical research (including for toxic exposures) and help for homeless veterans. The White House has not yet released its estimates for VA mandatory spending. All told, VA's 2022 budget could reach $250 billion or more -- the largest ever budget for the department.
“The discretionary request ensures that all of America’s veterans, including women veterans, veterans of color, and LGBTQ+ veterans, receive the care they have earned and prioritizes addressing veteran homelessness, suicide prevention, and caregiver support,” the budget request outline released by the White House reads.
The increase for VA under Biden's plan is the third largest of any other federal agency, behind only the Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services.
The budget request released Friday was only an outline and did not include all the details and specifics of the president's plan, which White House officials said will be released in coming weeks. Congress gets final approval of the federal budget, though, so the outline helps lawmakers begin their work. VA Secretary Denis McDonough is expected to testify before the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday to advocate for Biden's plan.
Under the president's proposed budget for VA would receive:
- $7.6 billion more for health care than in 2021 (an 8.5% increase), for a total of $97.5 billion with more money for "women’s health, mental health" and other priorities. $94 billion of that is already approved in advance appropriations;
- 74% more money for suicide prevention than in 2021, from $230 million to $542 million;
- $2.1 billion total for veteran homelessness programs, an increase of more than 4% from 2021;
- 12% more money for medical research at VA, including on toxic exposures and traumatic brain injury, to $882 million;
- $40.3 million to hire hundreds of new claims processors to handle veteran disability claims, backlogged during the pandemic, with a focus on Vietnam War-era veterans newly eligible for benefits for Agent Orange exposure;
- $4.8 billion more to modernize VA IT systems;
- $2.7 billion more for VA's electronic health record modernization project.
Biden's plan is in addition to the $17 billion VA was provided in the most recent round of coronavirus relief funds, the administration's American Rescue Plan.
The president's budget plan for VA continues a nearly two-decade series of major increases for VA's budget. VA's budget has consistently increased since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The 2022 budget for VA and the rest of the federal government still has a long legislative road ahead, including months of negotiation in the House and Senate, then further negotiations between the chambers of Congress to settle on a unified plan before debate heads to the floor of each chamber for votes.
VA is not likely in danger from any potential shutdowns snags in negotiations could cause, though. Unlike other federal departments, VA receives much of its annual budget a year in advance to ensure operations continue during the political sparring. VA's budget also is unlikely to spur major controversy in budget debates, despite it's consistent expansion. VA's budget has been ballooning for years, exceeding $200 billion for the first time under former President Donald Trump, ballooning to almost double its size since 2011 when the total budget was about $125 billion, and soaring to more than five times the size it was in 2001 (about $45 billion), before the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan began.
"The funding request invests in the core foundations of our country’s strength and advances key U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs priorities, including addressing veteran homelessness, suicide prevention, caregiver support, and modernizing information technology systems to enhance customer service experience and ensure veterans receive world-class health care," McDonough said in a statement Friday.
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Reach Abbie Bennett: abbie@connectingvets.com or @AbbieRBennett.
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