Congress is being asked to address a $12 billion medical funding shortfall in the Department of Veterans Affairs budget by the end of this year.
During a press conference on Sept. 26, VA Secretary Denis McDonough said he hopes lawmakers will include the department’s request for $12 billion in supplemental funding in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget.
“We’re hopeful to see an anomaly there,” he said. “In the meantime, we’ll continue to provide world-class care, and we will continue to be very discerning about hiring decisions.”
The request comes on the heels of President Joe Biden’s signing a $3 billion supplemental funding bill for VA on Sept. 20.
VA told Congress in July that the shortfall was due to the accelerated implementation of the PACT Act, which provides VA health care and benefits to veterans of all eras who were exposed to toxins as a result of their service.
More than 4.7 million veterans have applied for VA benefits and more than 747,000 veterans have enrolled in VA health care as a result of the PACT Act.
“President Biden and Secretary McDonough gave us a mandate on day one, reach out to every single veteran and every survivor who is newly eligible for care and benefits, and make sure they get what they earned,” Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs Adam Farina said at the press conference. “Since then, we’ve embarked on the largest outreach campaign in the history of VA.”
Had the supplemental funding bill not been passed, benefits due to 7 million veterans on Oct. 1 could have been delayed.
The supplemental funding bill did not include the additional $12 billion in medical funding the VA has requested in its Fiscal Year 2025 budget. And a continuing resolution passed by Congress to prevent a government shutdown on Sept. 25 did not include those funds.
McDonough also stressed that VA is working to address lawmaker’s concerns about the $12 billion shortfall.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.