The House of Representatives passed emergency legislation on Tuesday to address a roughly $3 billion budget shortfall facing the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), with officials warning that benefits for millions of veterans are at risk in the coming weeks.
The bill passed by a voice vote with bipartisan support and now heads to the Senate, where lawmakers from both parties hope to see swift action this week.
“Thankfully, the House of Representatives showed rare bipartisan unity in passing my bill, which will prevent this disaster and demand accountability with real oversight to ensure every dollar is spent appropriately,” Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), the House Appropriations Committee member who led the legislative effort, said in a statement Tuesday.
“Our veterans deserve better treatment than bureaucratic incompetence, and we're one step closer to fixing this broken system.”
The bill requests about $2.9 billion in additional funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, of which about $2.3 billion would go to the VA for compensation and pensions, and about $597 million would go to job reinstatement benefits.
Weeks before the bill was passed, the VA warned lawmakers that veterans' compensation, pension and job reinstatement payments could be delayed next month if Congress did not provide additional funding in the coming days.
The department cited the PACT Act, a landmark law passed with bipartisan support in 2022, as a major factor in the budget shortfall, and pointed to an increase in enrollment in VA medical, appointment and claims benefits.
The bill, known as the “Veterans Benefits Continuity and Accountability Supplemental Appropriations Act,” requires the VA secretary to submit a report to lawmakers detailing ways to improve projections and budget assumptions and requires reporting on any changes to future estimates.
It also requires the VA's Inspector General to conduct an investigation into the state of the budget shortfall and its causes.
Senators from both parties are pushing for swift approval as Congress is locked in a battle over a new budget bill to avert a government shutdown ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the Defense Department's annual budget, told The Hill on Tuesday that he expects senators will work to “get the bill through” if the House VA bill passes.
“We'll see. The disruptors can disrupt, but if they do, I think it would be a big mistake,” he said.
A bipartisan effort to quickly pass legislation to fill the shortfall before the August recess failed due to conservative resistance and increased scrutiny of VA funding.
In a speech on Tuesday, Sen. John Boozman (R-Arkansas), the top Republican on the subcommittee that sets the VA's annual budget, expressed hope that the Senate could move the bill quickly and pass it unanimously, though that process could be delayed if a single senator objects to passage.
“I would hope that they would send it over here and that we would unanimously approve it,” Boozman told The Hill. “If that's the case, we need to take the time to get it to us right away. [passed].”
The VA is pushing hard to receive the additional funding by Sept. 20, pressuring Congress.
“Every day after 20 days, there's an increased risk that we won't be able to pay on time,” VA Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs said at a recent House Veterans Affairs Committee oversight hearing, explaining the VA's process for transmitting pay files to the Treasury Department.
“There are multiple steps that must be taken between when we submit our payroll file, when the Treasury Department processes it, and when the payment is sent to a financial institution via direct deposit, EFTS, or when a check is printed and sent to the approximately 2 percent of veterans and survivors who receive a paper check.”
“There's leeway because sometimes there are issues with payroll files and they have to be fixed before they're submitted,” he says, “but it's very hard to go back and get that money back after you've submitted it.”
“I would also add that we have the ability to expedite the timeline for direct deposits. However, this does come with additional risk. The real challenge and the real length and process is for veterans and families receiving the checks. This process takes time and could result in delays of up to two weeks, especially for rural veterans and families.”
