Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies: FY2009 Appropriations Page: 3 of 38
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Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and
Related Agencies: FY2009 Appropriations
Summary
The President submitted his FY2009 appropriations request to Congress on
February 4, 2008, including $115.3 billion for programs covered in this
appropriations bill: $24.4 billion for Title I (military construction and family
housing); $90.8 billion for Title II (veterans affairs); and $183 million for Title III
(related agencies). Compared with funding thus far appropriated for FY2008
(emergency supplemental appropriations are pending), this represents increases for
Title I of $3.8 billion (18.3%), for Title II of $3.2 billion (3.6%), and for Title III of
$16.7 million (10.1%). The overall increase in appropriations between that requested
for FY2009 and enacted for FY2008 is $7.0 billion (6.4%).
The House and Senate Committees on Appropriations reported their versions
of the FY2009 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies
appropriations bill on June 24 (H.R. 6559) and July 22 (S. 3301), 2008, respectively.
The bill's legislative path is laid out in detail in the "Fiscal Year 2009
Appropriations" section of this report.
The House committee recommended appropriating $118.7 billion in new budget
authority, $3.4 billion above the President's request. This included $24.8 billion for
Title I, $400 million above the request and $4.2 billion above the FY2008 enactment.
The Senate committee recommended $119.8 billion, including $24.7 billion for Title
I. The Continuing Appropriations Act appropriated $119.6 billion, including $25.0
billion for Title I.
In the area of veterans' non-medical benefits, mandatory spending is increasing
as claims for disability compensation, pension, and readjustment benefits increase
due to a combination of several factors including 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 FY2007 was
183 days. To reduce the pending claims workload and improve the claims processing
time, funds were provided in the FY2008 appropriation for hiring and training
additional claims processing staff. In FY2008 mandatory spending was $44.5 billion,
increasing to $46.0 billion in FY2009.
In terms of medical care afforded to veterans, similar to the past six years, the
Administration has included several cost sharing proposals including increase in
pharmacy copayments and enrollment fees for lower priority veterans. An additional
proposal would bill veterans directly for treatment of nonservice-connected
conditions. The House Appropriations Committee draft bill provides $40.8 billion
for Veterans Health Administration for FY2009, a 9.6% increase over the FY2008
enacted amount of $37.2 billion, and 4.1% above the President's request of $39.2
billion. The draft bill does not include any provisions that would give the Department
of Veterans Affairs the authority to implement fee increases. This report will be
updated as events warrant.
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Else, Daniel H.; Scott, Christine & Panangala, Sidath Viranga. Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies: FY2009 Appropriations, report, October 31, 2008; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc821122/m1/3/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.