{"id":56585,"date":"2018-09-21T19:25:43","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T19:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/09\/21\/trump-oks-the-largest-va-budget-ever\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:05:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:05:37","slug":"trump-oks-the-largest-va-budget-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2018\/09\/21\/trump-oks-the-largest-va-budget-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump signs the largest VA budget ever"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump signed the Department of Veterans Affairs <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/09\/13\/no-shutdown-at-va-congress-passes-departments-budget-on-time\/\" target=\"_blank\">fiscal 2019 budget into law on Friday<\/a>, giving the department a funding boost of more than 6 percent and pushing the agency\u2019s total spending <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/05\/08\/house-panel-backs-plans-for-another-big-va-funding-boost\/\" target=\"_blank\">over $200 billion for the first time<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The president finalized the bill at a ceremony held in the North Las Vegas VA Medical Center, surrounded by federal officials and local veterans. He praised the massive spending measure as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/05\/23\/massive-veterans-policy-bill-heads-to-trumps-desk-but-results-will-take-time\/\" target=_blank>another promise kept by his administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWith this funding bill we have increased the VA\u2019s budget to the largest ever,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are delivering the resources to implement crucial VA reforms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The bill includes $1.1 billion for the start of a VA electronic health records overhaul and $400 million for opioid abuse prevention within the department, both efforts touted by Trump in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/09\/13\/no-shutdown-at-va-congress-passes-departments-budget-on-time\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_410659809854.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">No shutdown at VA: Congress passes department\u2019s budget on time<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Thursday&#039;s House vote marks on the second time in the last nine years that Congress has finished its VA budget work on time.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final deal also includes a $1.75 billion increase in money tied to the VA Mission Act, passed at the start of the summer. The legislation will rewrite the department\u2019s community care programs, expanding veterans ability to access private health care at taxpayer expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That money had stalled negotiations on the budget bill for months, and Democrats said they still are not satisfied with the short-term spending plug to cover what is expected to be an even bigger financial hole next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe bill the president signed today leaves a funding gap in May of 2019, expected to grow to more than $8 billion in fiscal year 2020,\u201d Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement after the signing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe do our veterans no favors when we make promises we do not keep, and I will continue to fight in Congress to make sure they receive the care they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The VA funding legislation also includes $10.3 billion in military construction funding for fiscal 2019 as well as the full-year budgets for the legislative branch and federal energy programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump\u2019s signature came just a day after he blasted a similar sprawling budget package focused on the Department of Defense as a \u201cridiculous spending bill\u201d because it omitted border wall funding he has demanded from Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The House is expected to finalize that legislation next week. If the president chooses to veto it, most federal departments would face a partial government shutdown. VA would be exempted from those problems, however, since their fiscal 2019 funding is now in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">VA secretary: \u2018Las Vegas is where we see what VA will become\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rAoR50ev3o\">https:\/\/t.co\/rAoR50ev3o<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Veterans Affairs (@DeptVetAffairs) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DeptVetAffairs\/status\/1043205829397278720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 21, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In fiscal 2019, total VA spending will exceed $200 billion for the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":94444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":19,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,23,89,12,26,62,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-56585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"KOXGPU7AOBDK3NHXG3A5X4D2OY","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/2018\/09\/21\/trump-oks-the-largest-va-budget-ever\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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