Congress approves $3B lifeline to prevent delay in vet benefits

Senate lawmakers approved a $3 billion budget stopgap for the Department of Veterans Affairs on Thursday, preventing a threatened delay in the delivery of some veterans benefits checks next month.

The move came just two days after House lawmakers advanced the same appropriations measure, which also mandates a report from department officials on the reasons behind the department’s budget shortfall within a month. The legislation is expected to be signed into law by President Joe Biden before the end of Friday.

Sept. 20 was the deadline given by VA leaders earlier this month for when they needed money approved by Congress to avoid benefits delays starting in October. On Wednesday, Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs told members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee that education support and monthly disability payouts could be delayed days or weeks without the emergency funds.

“The majority of the funds that we provide are delivered through direct deposit … and we’re working closely with the Treasury to find ways to compress that timeline,” he said.

“The biggest risk is the 2% of veterans and survivors without that, 140,000 of the most vulnerable of our customers, many living in rural areas with more health conditions, who would have a delay of up to two weeks [for paper checks].”

Jacobs and other VA leaders said the budget shortfall came as a result of record-high benefits approvals and medical services usage by veterans in the last fiscal year, much of it due to the PACT Act. That legislation, passed in August 2022, dramatically expanded eligibility for those services to veterans who suffered toxic exposure injuries while in the service.

Under that legislation, administration officials had up to 10 years to implement all of the new benefits and support. But the White House opted to accelerate that timeline earlier this year, which officials said led to the higher, unexpected budget pressures.

Through the first 10 months of fiscal 2024, VA staff granted disability compensation benefits to more than 1.1 million veterans and survivors, a new record. Nearly 413,000 veterans newly enrolled in VA health care services over the previous 12 months, up 27% from the same time frame a year earlier.

Despite approving the $3 billion lifeline, numerous Republican lawmakers criticized the department for not recognizing the budget issues sooner, leading to a near emergency situation.

House lawmakers included the oversight report language to “hold the administration accountable for its budgeting errors,” according to Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. Bill sponsor Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., said the measure “demands accountability with real oversight to make sure every dollar is spent right.”

Ahead of Thursday’s Senate vote, lawmakers blocked proposals from Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, to withhold bonuses for senior VA executives in cases of budgeting issues and from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to rescind $2.9 billion from the Department of Energy to pay for the VA funding patch.

But Democrats in the House and Senate have downplayed the budgeting problem, saying that while the specifics were not known until recently, the extra expense from increased participation of veterans in department services was not a surprise.

“This is not the time for partisan politics,” Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont., said during Wednesday’s hearing. “It is time to act to ensure that 7 million veterans and their families who are wondering whether they’ll receive their benefit checks in the next 13 days get them.”

VA officials have also asked for an additional $15 billion in the fiscal 2025 budget to cover increased benefits and medical care costs. Lawmakers are expected to debate that request after the November elections.