Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald warned this week that House appropriators’ plan to trim $1.5 billion off his department’s annual budget request will “hurt veterans” if it becomes law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the second consecutive year that House lawmakers have proposed a smaller-than-requested VA budget, albeit still a sizable increase in department spending. It’s also the second consecutive year McDonald has called the idea harmful to veterans seeking medical care and benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It will impede some critical initiatives necessary to transform VA into the high performing organization veterans deserve,” he told a crowd at a Center for Strategic and International Studies speech on Wednesday. “We’re encouraging Congress to fully fund VA at the level requested.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Last month, the House Committee on Appropriations passed a VA spending plan for fiscal 2017 with nearly $73.5 billion in discretionary spending, which would be an increase of about 3 percent from fiscal 2016 levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But White House officials asked for a 5 percent increase, arguing the need for more construction funding and expansion of VA programming. House Republicans have said their funding plan covers enough of those programs while practicing fiscal restraint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senate appropriators are working on a different funding measure which would nearly equal the White House request. On Wednesday, McDonald lauded that plan and urged the House to follow suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s what happened last year, when House lawmakers initially trimmed the administration’s budget request by several hundred million dollars, only to restore most of it as negotiations with the Senate progressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But McDonald’s comments about the shortfall hurting veterans became fodder for critics who said the department has failed to fix many of its problems, despite generous annual increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If approved by Congress, the VA discretionary budget will equal almost as much as the department’s entire budget 10 years ago. Both mandatory and non-mandatory funding totaled $79.5 billion in fiscal 2007, less than half the $163 billion budget finalized for fiscal 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No timetable has been set for when the appropriations bills could reach a full vote in their respective chambers. Lawmakers from both parties have spent recent months sparring over spending caps and budget targets, and are scheduled to take a two-month recess in mid-July to prepare for the November elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n