Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies: FY2008 Appropriations (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised Feb. 4, 2008 |
| Report Number |
RL34038 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Daniel H. Else Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, Christine Scott and Sidath Viranga Panangala Domestic Social Policy Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The President submitted his FY2008 appropriations request to Congress on February 5, 2007, including $105.2 billion for programs covered in this appropriations bill: $21.2 billion for Title I (military construction and family housing); $83.9 billion for Title II (veterans affairs); and $163 million for Title III (related agencies). With no regular appropriation passed or enacted for FY2007, this must be compared with the combined totals of the subsequent continuing resolutions and emergency supplemental appropriations: $17.9 billion for Title I; $79.6 billion for Title II; and $149 million for Title III. The request represented an increase of $3.2 billion (18.0%) in Title I, $4.4 billion (5.5%) in Title II, and $14 thousand (9.2%) in Title III above the FY2007 enacted appropriations. The overall FY2008 request exceeded the FY2007 appropriations by $7.6 billion, an increase of 7.8%.
The House passed its version of the FY2008 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill, H.R. 2642, on June 15, 2007. The Senate passed an amended version on September 6. H.R. 2764, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008, enacted on December 27, 2007 as P.L. 110â161, included FY2008 funding for Military Construction and Veterans Affairs as Division I. The bill's legislative path is laid out in detail in the "Enactment of the Regular FY2008 Appropriations" section of this report.
While appropriations for Title I activities has increased above FY2007, this is not true across all appropriations accounts. Funds for military family housing in FY2008 are less than those for FY2007, while construction for the active and reserve military components and appropriations for Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) actions exceed 2007-enacted amounts. Much of this addition can be attributed to the recently authorized increase in end-strength of military ground forces and the onset of construction required by the 2005 BRAC round.
In veterans' non-medical benefits, mandatory spending for disability compensation, pension, and readjustment benefits is increasing due to the aging of the veterans population and the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a result of the increase in the number of claims, the average processing time for a disability claim in FY2006 was 177 days. To reduce the pending claims workload and improve the claims processing time, funds were provided in the FY2007 supplemental and in the FY2008 appropriation for hiring and training additional claims processing staff. While mandatory spending has increased by 19.6% between FY2006 and FY2008 (from $37.2 billion to $44.5 billion), mandatory spending has declined as a share of the total VA appropriation (from 52.1% in FY2006 to 50.7% in FY2008).
In terms of medical care afforded to veterans, similar to the past five years, the Administration has included several cost sharing proposals including increase in pharmacy copayments and enrollment fees for lower priority veterans. The House Appropriations Committee draft bill provides $37.1 billion for VHA for FY2008, a 9.1% increase over the FY2007 enacted amount of $34.0 billion, and 7.3% above the President's request of $34.6 billion. The draft bill does not include any provisions that would give VA the authority to implement fee increases. This report will be updated as events warrant.
