WASHINGTON - The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies today approved by voice vote its fiscal year 2021 bill. In total, the bill provides $250.9 billion in both discretionary and mandatory funding, an increase of $15.2 billion above the fiscal year 2020 enacted level and $2.3 billion above the President’s budget request. The legislation includes $12.5 billion in emergency spending for VA to address the rising cost of Veterans’ health care.
The bill next heads to the full Committee for markup.
“This year’s Military Construction and Veterans Affairs funding bill makes critical and serious investments in veterans and military families, reinforces our national security infrastructure, and blocks President Trump from stealing appropriated funds from servicemembers to backfill projects he canceled to pay for an ineffective, nativist wall," said House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. “In the midst of a global pandemic, we are making unprecedented investments in our veterans through our VA medical system to ensure that every veteran has access to the top-notch health care that they deserve. The MilCon/VA bill includes historic spending for women veterans, mental health, suicide prevention, medical research, and homeless prevention, while closely monitoring VA claims processing and system modernizations. This bill also provides robust funding to improve servicemembers’ and their families’ quality of life and continues the fight against Russian aggression and emerging threats in the Middle East and North Africa. In short, this bill builds a stronger VA and military, and leaves no one behind. I will work to pass this vital bill and commit to ensuring our veterans and military families are protected, respected and supported and get the highest quality healthcare they deserve."
“This bill honors our commitment to the men and women in our armed services, to our veterans, and to military families, who sacrifice every day for our nation," said House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey. “With robust emergency funding to address the rising cost of veterans’ health care, we will ensure that those who served receive the care they have earned. Critically, the bill will prevent President Trump from stealing any more appropriated funds from urgently needed military infrastructure projects to pay for his wasteful border wall. Our military families and veterans deserve our respect, not the shabby treatment they have gotten from this administration."
A summary of the bill is here. The full text of the bill is.
Source: U.S. Department of HCA
