Joint VSO Letter on Advance Appropriations for VA Medical Care Programs: October 30, 2013 The Honorable Barack Obama President of the United States The White House Washington, DC 20500 Dear Mr. President: Four years ago, with leaders of many of our organizations standing behind you in the East Room of the White House, you signed the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009, now Public Law 111-81, to provide one-year advance appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA’s) medical care programs. Today, on behalf of the millions of veterans and military service members our organizations represent, we call on you to publicly support and commit to sign new legislation to extend advance appropriations to all VA discretionary and mandatory programs, services and benefits. As the recent partial government shutdown has proven: advance appropriations work. Thanks to their advance funding, VA hospitals and clinics were able to provide uninterrupted care to millions of wounded, injured and ill veterans. By contrast, other critical services for veterans were delayed, disrupted and suspended. Work was stopped on more than 250,000 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability claims awaiting appeals, burials at national cemeteries were scaled back and vital medical and prosthetic research projects were suspended. Had this stalemate continued for another couple of weeks, even mandatory obligations of the federal government, such as disability compensation and pension payments to veterans and their survivors, would have been halted. More than four million wounded, injured, ill and poor veterans rely on these payments; for some it is their primary or only source of income. It is simply unacceptable that there was even the threat of default on these payments. Fortunately, there is a commonsense legislative remedy that would insulate VA and veterans from the harmful effects of future shutdowns or even temporary continuing resolutions. Bipartisan legislation is pending in both the House (H.R. 813) and the Senate (S. 932), the Putting Veterans Funding First Act, which would extend advance appropriations to all VA discretionary programs. If approved, this legislation would align VA’s remaining discretionary programs and services, which comprise only 14 percent of VA’s total discretionary budget, with the same one-year advance appropriations cycle used for VA’s three medical care accounts. In addition, we learned during the recent shutdown that veterans disability compensation, pension, education and some other benefit payments would also have come to a halt without had the shutdown continued a couple weeks more. Therefore, we are calling for an amendment to H.R. 813 and S. 932 that would also provide advance appropriations for all veterans benefits that rely on mandatory funding. We urge you to publicly state your support for this amendment. Mr. President, at the bill signing ceremony four years ago, you called advance appropriations legislation “common-sense reform” and declared that, “… veterans’ health care will no longer be held hostage to annual budget battles in Washington.” You stated that the advance appropriations process “promotes accountability,” is “fiscally responsible,” and does not “add a dime to the deficit.” We wholeheartedly agree. Advance appropriations for veterans health care programs has proven to be a resounding success for both VA and for veterans. By assuring timely and predictable funding, VA has been more successful in planning and budgeting to use Congressionally-provided appropriations to operate its medical facilities and programs. Unfortunately, other veterans benefits and services that rely wholly or partially on discretionary funding face annual threats of funding delays and reductions due to annual budget fights. Extending advance appropriations would shield all veterans programs from unrelated political and partisan budget disputes so that VA can continue to deliver all the benefits and services that wounded, injured and ill veterans have earned. Four years ago, your support of advance appropriations for VA health care, first as a Senator and later as President, was a critical factor in its passage. Given the fresh evidence of harm to veterans caused by the recent shutdown, we respectfully ask that you publicly state your support for bipartisan legislation to extend advance appropriations to all VA discretionary and mandatory programs, services and benefits. It is time to change how Washington pays for veterans programs by putting veterans funding first. America’s veterans deserve no less. Respectfully,
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 17:37:00 +0000
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