Department of Veterans Affairs FY2018 Appropriations

Summary

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides a range of benefits and services to veterans and eligible dependents who meet certain criteria as authorized by law. These benefits include medical care, disability compensation and pensions, education, vocational rehabilitation and employment services, assistance to homeless veterans, home loan guarantees, administration of life insurance and traumatic injury protection insurance for servicemembers, and death benefits that cover burial expenses. The VA is funded through the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (MILCON-VA) appropriations bill.

On May 23, 2017, the President submitted his budget request to Congress for FY2018 and for the advance appropriations accounts for FY2019. The President’s FY2018 budget request for the VA is $182.66 billion. Compared with the FY2017-enacted amount of $176.94 billion, this would be a 3.23% (or $5.72 billion) increase. The FY2018-requested amount includes $103.95 billion in mandatory budget authority and $78.71 billion in discretionary budget authority. For the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), the President’s budget request includes $106.97 billion for FY2018. For the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) the President’s budget request includes $69.67 billion for FY2018, without collections. Compared with the FY2017-enacted amount of $65.32 billion, this would be a 6.66% increase, and the amount includes additional funding of $2.65 billion over the FY2018 advance appropriations of $66.39 billion provided in P.L. 114-223. Although the Veterans Choice Program (VCP) is not part of the annual appropriations for the VA health care programs, the President is requesting $2.9 billion in mandatory funding for FY2018 and $3.5 billion for FY2019 to continue the program.

On September 14, 2017, the House passed its version of the FY2018 MILCON-VA appropriations bill (Division K—Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations, bill, 2018 in H.R. 3354). The House-passed measure (H.R. 3354) provides $182.28 billion for the VA. This amount includes $103.95 billion in mandatory funding and $78.33 billion in discretionary funding. For the VBA, the House-passed measure provides $107.03 billion. A majority of this funding is for mandatory benefits such as disability compensation, readjustment benefits, and veterans insurance programs. For VHA, the House-passed bill provides $69.74 billion (without collections) for FY2018. This amount includes $66.39 billion provided as advance appropriations in P.L. 114-223 for FY2018 for the four accounts—medical services, medical community care, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities—and $2.65 billion in additional funding for FY2018 for those same four accounts. The total VHA amount also includes $698.23 million for the medical and prosthetic research account.

On July 13, 2017, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of the FY2018 MILCON-VA Appropriations bill (S. 1557; S.Rept. 115-130). The committee-reported version would provide $182.37 billion for the VA for FY2018. This amount includes $103.95 billion in mandatory funding and $78.42 billion in discretionary funding. For the VBA, the Senate-reported bill recommends $107.04 billion for FY2018. For VHA, the committee recommends $70.09 billion (without collections) for FY2018. This amount includes $66.39 billion provided as advance appropriations in P.L. 114-223 for FY2018 for the four accounts—medical services, medical community care, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities—and $2.98 billion in additional funding for FY2018 for those same four accounts. The total VHA amount also includes $722.26 million for the medical and prosthetic research account.

Since none of the 12 regular appropriations bills were enacted prior to the start of FY2018 (October 1, 2017), Congress passed and the President signed into law two continuing resolutions (CRs) (P.L. 115-56 and P.L. 115-90). The most recent CR (P.L. 115-90) funds some VA accounts for FY2018 until December 22, 2018.