Veterans' Medical Care: FY2016 Appropriations (CRS Report for Congress)
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| Release Date |
Revised March 11, 2016 |
| Report Number |
R44301 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Sidath Viranga Panangala, Specialist in Veterans Policy |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
-
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Summary:
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides benefits to veterans who meet certain eligibility criteria. Benefits to veterans range from disability compensation and pensions to hospital and medical care. The VA provides these benefits through three major operating units: the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), and the National Cemetery Administration (NCA). This report focuses on funding for the VHA.
The President submitted his FY2016 budget request to Congress on February 2, 2015. The President's request for the VHA is approximately $60.6 billion (without collections), an additional $1.3 billion (for the three medical care accounts) above the enacted 2016 advance appropriations for VHA, which was $58.7 billion. When the $622 million request for the medical and prosthetic research account is taken into consideration, the total amount requested for VHA is a $1.9 billion increase over the FY2015 amount.
The House Appropriations Committee approved the FY2016 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill (MILCON-VA appropriations bill) on April 22, 2015. The House passed the measure (H.R. 2029, H.Rept. 114-92) on April 30. The House-passed bill provides approximately $60.3 billion for the VHA (without collections).
Because none of the FY2016 regular appropriations bills were enacted by October 1, 2015, on September 30 Congress passed and the President signed into law a continuing resolution (CR) for the period October 1, 2015, through December 11, 2015. The Continuing Appropriations Act, 2016 (P.L. 114-53), funds most VA programs through a formula using the FY2015 level of appropriations minus an across-the-board rescission of 0.2108%.
Although the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the MILCON-VA appropriations bill (H.R. 2029; S.Rept. 114-57) on May 21, 2015, the Senate did not consider the measure until November. On November 10, 2015, the Senate passed the MILCON-VA appropriation bill, 2016, as amended by S.Amdt. 2763, as amended, in the nature of a substitute, to H.R. 2029. For the VHA, the Senate-passed version of the MILCON-VA appropriations bill provides $62.4 billion (without collections), which is $1.8 billion more than the Administration's request for FY2016.
On December 18, 2015, the President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (H.R. 2029; P.L. 114-113). Division J of the act contained the FY2016 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act. The enacted measure provides $162.7 billion for the VA for FY2016 as whole. Of this amount, the MILCON-VA Appropriations Act provides $61.8 billion for VHA (without collections). This includes $2.5 billion in addition to the enacted FY2016 advance appropriations for VHA, which was $58.7 billion, and approximately $631 million for the medical and prosthetic research account. In total, the FY2016-enacted amount for VHA is $1.2 billion above the President's request for FY2016, and $5.3 billion above the FY2015-enacted amount of $56.4 billion (without collections).
The appendixes of this report provide funding levels for all VA accounts from FY1995 to FY2015 (including rescissions and supplements).
