Four Democrats buck party on funding bill despite White House veto threat

Four House Democrats on Wednesday overrode party opposition to pass the annual Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction funding bill, days after the White House threatened to veto the bill over a partisan rider they called a “poison pill.”

The Republican-led House of Representatives voted mostly along party lines Wednesday morning to pass a bill that would appropriate a total of about $379 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction and housing programs in fiscal year 2025. Two Republicans voted against the bill.

The bulk of the bill’s funding includes more than $337 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs, about a third of which goes to veterans’ health care costs and more than $17 billion for the Department of Defense’s military construction and family housing.

Reps. Marie Grusenkamp Perez (D-WA), Jared Golden (D-Maine), Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) and Mary Peltola (D-Alaska) joined nearly all Republicans in pushing the bill, but Reps. Tom McClintock (R-California) and Matt Rosendale (R-Montana) broke party lines and voted against the bill.

The Hill has reached out to the congressman’s office for comment.

Democrats strongly oppose the bill, which includes a rider that would purportedly restrict the VA from implementing Biden administration rules that would make abortion counseling and abortions more accessible to veterans under certain circumstances.

The rule allows the VA to authorize veterans to have abortions if their life or health is at risk or if the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.

But the Biden administration has attacked the bill’s language, saying it would limit abortion to cases of rape or incest, or “when a physician certifies that a woman is in danger of dying because of a life-threatening physical disability, physical injury, or physical disease caused by or resulting from the pregnancy itself, and that the woman would be in danger of dying if an abortion is not performed.”

“This change will prevent VA from providing needed care at a time when women’s health is at risk,” the Office of Management and Budget said Monday.

Democrats are also targeting other riders that they say would block the VA from implementing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and lead to measures such as blocking access to gender-affirming health care.

The Biden administration cited similar measures in its opposition to the funding plan earlier this week, accusing Republicans of “once again wasting time on a partisan bill” that contains “numerous partisan policy provisions that will have devastating consequences.”

In a statement Wednesday, Gruzenkamp Perez criticized Republicans for engaging in a “culture war” around the bill, but said she still decided to support it because of the funding levels veterans expect.

“This bill provides significantly increased funding levels for veterans than were enacted in FY ’24, including assistance for veterans’ health care, claims processing, caregivers, toxic exposure care, facility construction and more,” she said.

“The bill also included two of my amendments to address disadvantages for veterans in Lewis County who were affected by the Chehalis VA clinic closure, and veterans in Skamania County who no longer qualify for federal funding for free transportation to VA medical appointments,” she continued.

“Unfortunately, despite important provisions for veterans, radical lawmakers have used this bill to stoke a pointless partisan culture war. I voted against these harmful amendments, and I refuse to take part in clickbait politics.”

“America’s military members and veterans should not be treated as political pawns in a partisan game. While this bill still has a long way to go before it becomes law, I am confident that the many concerns raised – many of which I share – will be addressed. In the meantime, I’ve voted to support our military members,” Golden said in a statement.

The Cook Political Report rates the race between Grusenkamp-Perez and Golden as “close” as the 2024 election season heats up. Three other Democrats are also running in races the nonpartisan election prognosticator considers “close.”

The bill is the first of 12 partisan budget plans Republicans hope to pass before the August recess, one month before the government faces a budget shortfall.

“This bill fulfills Republican promises to send legislation to Congress that is compliant with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, while honoring our commitment to our nation’s veterans and military,” said Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), chairman of the subcommittee that wrote the bill. He spoke about the bill this week..

But the bill is seen as one of the easier funding initiatives Republican leaders are trying to pass this summer, with upcoming plans still to come, including annual funding bills for the Justice, Health and Human Services and Agriculture departments that exposed rifts within the party last year.

“I could never vote for this reprehensible budget proposal that condones and funds the VA’s use of the same procedures that destroy countless more lives in a single year than Planned Parenthood,” Rosendale said in a statement explaining his vote.

“I simply cannot support this reprehensible budget because it allows the VA to condone and fund the same procedure that takes more lives a year than Planned Parenthood,” Rosendale said, criticizing the cost, saying it “is the first budget passed this year and sets a precedent of egregious spending that is more than $30 billion more than last year’s budget.”

“This bill is a disappointment to all veterans who rely on VA health care because it does nothing to terminate or restructure the contract between the VA and Oracle Cerner, whose digital failures have driven up health care costs and made it harder for veterans to access health care,” he added.

Updated at 1:50 PM ET.