The plan — which now moves to the full House for consideration — is the first portion of the annual federal budget approved by either chamber’s appropriations committee.
But despite the typical bipartisan nature of the veterans bill, the 36-27 approval vote from the panel came after nearly 12 hours of grueling, contentious debate, with dozens of Democratic amendments rejected by the Republican majority.
The budget bill (which also includes $18 billion for military construction projects) is an increase in total VA program and benefits spending of more than $83 billion, or about 22%, from the fiscal 2025 approved levels.
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But nearly all of that boost is in mandatory funding, tied up in medical programs and veterans benefits payouts. Discretionary funding — money for new program starts and support services — would rise to about $134 billion, up about 4% but about $1 billion less than what the White House requested in its fiscal 2026 budget plan.
Still, Republican leaders praised the measure as an important step forward in providing promised care and support to veterans.
“We have an obligation to ensure our veterans get the benefits and care they’ve earned,” said Rep. John Carter, R-Texas and chairman of the appropriations’ panel’s subcommittee on veterans issues. “This bill does that, while also addressing other issues affecting veterans, including homelessness, mental health services and taking care of our women veterans.”
The plan includes $34 billion for community care programs, which allow veterans to receive medical treatment at private-sector clinics paid for by taxpayer funds. That’s up nearly 55% from this year’s community care funding levels, prompting accusations of privatization from committee Democrats.
“By transferring record funding from VA medical services into community care, this bill pushes veterans into private care, even though veteran polls and studies show that when given the option, veterans want to receive their medical care at VA,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. and ranking member of the committee’s veterans panel.
“We should invest more in VA, provider recruitment and retention incentives, increase benefits counselors and adjudicators, not ignore veterans wishes and speed recklessly into privatization.”
Democratic lawmakers attempted to reallocate some of those funds through amendments, but those efforts were rebuffed. They also objected to provisions in the bill blocking abortion counseling and services at VA, halting department efforts to reduce its workforce by roughly 80,000 workers in coming months, and ending support options for some minority groups.
However, the committee did adopt one amendment by Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Ill., that would block any reductions in staffing at the Veterans Crisis Line and other VA suicide prevention programs.
House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., said during Tuesday’s debate that she hopes the appropriations package will see significant changes before a full chamber vote later this summer, particularly since White House officials have yet to release a detailed budget plan for the department next year.
House leaders have not yet announced when that vote will take place. Both the House and Senate will need to negotiate a full budget for the federal government before a compromise package can be signed into law. The new fiscal year starts on Oct. 1.
Veterans Affairs leaders have seen regular budget increases annually for more than 20 years, even amid frequent congressional and White House efforts to reduce federal spending.
In fiscal 2001, the VA budget — both mandatory and discretionary — totaled just $45 billion. In 2011, it was about $125 billion. In fiscal 2023, the total topped $300 billion for the first time.
If approved, the fiscal 2026 VA budget would surpass $400 billion in spending, marking an increase of more than 900% over the last 25 years.
Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.
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