Senate conservatives are showing early resistance to expediting legislation to address a roughly $3 billion budget shortfall for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), while officials warn that millions of veterans’ benefits are at risk. in the next weeks.
Some senators had hoped to pass the bipartisan bill this week amid growing concerns about the deficit. However, the effort is being rejected by some conservatives as Republicans have increased scrutiny of the issue.
“When we spend billions of dollars, we should ask if there are controls that are being spent wisely. Where was it spent? Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told The Hill on Tuesday afternoon. “We gave them record amounts of dollars, if it’s gone.”
“So someone made bad decisions or mismanaged, so all of this needs to be discussed and worked through, which is why I would never let this go without a discussion,” he said.
The VA said it needs Congress to provide about $2.9 billion “in mandatory benefit funds” for the fiscal year ending at the end of September, as well as about $12 billion for medical care for the following fiscal year. The agency cited the PACT Act, passed in 2022, as the main driver of the shortfall, pointing to increases in VA health care enrollment, appointments and application benefits.
Senators discussed the prospect of speeding passage of the legislation, which addresses the nearly $3 billion deficit, before heading into their August recess this week. But this process, also known as “unanimous consent,” can also be delayed if a single senator opposes passage.
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) also said he is keeping the bill on hold as he pushes for a hearing.
“I just want to know why? Don’t send a letter saying, ‘We need $3 billion’. Let us know why you need it. Let’s ask questions from both sides. It’s fair,” he said on Wednesday, although he added that he globally supports providing financing to address the deficit.
The sentiment comes at a time when more people have also sounded alarmed about the issue.
“The problem is if we don’t resolve this very quickly, it could start to affect benefits in October and so I’m very concerned about that,” said Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee. , which drafts all 12 annual government funding bills.
“I’m also extremely frustrated with the VA because they had to know they were underfunding these bills, and I just don’t accept the argument that they had no idea what was going to happen,” she said. “That’s simply not possible.”
Payments of compensation and pension benefits to veterans, as well as their adjustment benefits, could be delayed if Congress does not provide additional funding by the September 20 deadline.
Collins joined Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jon Tester ( D-Mont.), Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) introducing the bill this week.
The bill provides more than $2.8 billion in additional funding for the VA, appropriating about $2.3 billion to the Veterans Benefits Administration for compensation and pensions, as well as about $597 million for readjustment benefits.
The bill also calls on the Government Accountability Office to analyze “the circumstances and causes of the deficit” and “possible solutions that the Department could take in the future to improve annual budget presentations and avoid deficits”, among other measures .
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
