New fiscal year begins with no new VA budget - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

New fiscal year begins with no new VA budget

The new fiscal year did not get off to a happy start Thursday for veterans groups as Congress failed for the 20th time in the past 23 years to pass a Veterans Affairs Department budget on time.

“This is completely unacceptable,” said Paul Reickhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “A late VA budget means Congress is failing veterans.”

“The failure, once again, to pass VA’s budget on time is the latest evidence of a broken funding system crying out for reform,” said David Gorman of Disabled American Veterans.

Reickhoff said the only solace — and it doesn’t mean much — is that VA is not alone. Congress passed only one of the 13 regular annual appropriations bills needed to run federal agencies.

The legislative appropriations bill that was passed Wednesday and sent to the White House included a key Band-Aid, a so-called continuing resolution that keeps VA and other federal agencies running through Oct. 31 by providing temporary funding.

The DAV’s Gorman noted that the temporary funding at least includes a small increase, based on the proposed 2010 budget.

Ironically, the 2010 veterans funding bill approved by the House and Senate that should have passed by the start of the fiscal year includes a provision that would prevent any disruption in veterans funding if Congress fails to pass a budget by the start of fiscal 2011.

Advance funding is the top priority of all of the major veterans groups who testified before Congress this year.

Additionally, the pending 2010 veterans budget includes a 15 percent spending boost over the 2009 budget — money to expand and improve veterans programs that will not be available until the appropriations bill gets final congressional approval and is signed into law.

Delays in permanent appropriations hurt veterans because hospitals and clinics — unsure of how long temporary funding might last — fall back on rationing care, according to Reickhoff.

“When the VA budget is late, the nation’s largest health care provider is forced to wait in limbo, relying on a stop-gap measure,” he said. “VA hospitals and clinics can’t properly address critical staffing and equipment needs. When Congress bickers and delays, it’s our veterans who are left paying the price.”