Description:
S. 850 would permanently extend the authority for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to transport veterans who require assistance traveling—and their family members or attendants—to VA facilities for medical care, educational counseling, and vocational rehabilitation. Under current law, that authority expires at the end of fiscal year 2020. In 2019, VA spent $40 million on drivers and vehicles to transport veterans to 95 of the department’s locations. After adjusting for inflation and the expected 30 percent increase in the number of locations where transportation would be provided, CBO estimates that extending the program would cost $330 million over the 2021-2025 period. However, based on information from the department, CBO expects that those transportation services would partially supplant the demand for other transportation services that VA provides under service contracts. Because the department expects that its costs would be lower than the contracts, that substitution would reduce spending for those services by $326 million over the same period. On net, CBO estimates that implementing this section would cost $4 million over the 2021-2025 period, subject to appropriations consistent with the bill’s provisions
