Veterans Benefits Continuity and Accountability Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. TAKANO. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend and colleague, the gentlewoman from Florida, for yielding, and I associate myself with all of what she has said in the debate so far.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for H.R. 9468, legislation that addresses a critical funding shortfall at the Veterans Benefits Administration, which could delay delivery of crucial veterans' education and disability benefits.

Now, when we passed the Honoring our PACT Act into law, we intended that the VA move quickly to implement the law.

This speed was necessary so that veterans who needed care and benefits could receive them as quickly as possible. We also gave VA the money necessary to do the work and the authority to move more quickly, if it could.

On day one, President Biden accelerated implementation of the law. One year later, VA also hit the gas so that more veterans could enroll in VA healthcare more quickly. VA set aggressive goals, and what we are seeing right now is the result of VA exceeding those goals.

VA has granted almost 1.2 million PACT Act disability claims. Hundreds of thousands of new veterans have been enrolled in healthcare at VA. GI Bill and job training benefits are being used at unprecedented levels to further veterans' education and careers.

These are all good things, and I don't think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are arguing that they are bad.

Their rhetoric regarding VA's financial management belies their true motive here, which is to take any and every opportunity to bash the Biden-Harris administration, in this case for simply providing care and benefits to veterans.

From what we have heard today, it sounds like Republicans are begrudgingly willing to fund VBA, when this is the bare minimum that we should be doing.

While I am glad that we are getting the VBA supplemental completed this week, I am very concerned and, frankly, disappointed that we are also not taking action on the $12 billion Veterans Health Administration shortfall.

The deadline for the VHA shortfall is not this week, but that does not make it any less pressing. The time when VHA will need this funding is fast approaching, and this Congress has not shown itself to be capable of reliably passing funding bills on time.

Republicans have even refused to include VHA funding in their continuing resolution text that was introduced last week and is up for a vote tomorrow.

I have heard the chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee say that Congress never fails to fund the VA, and so I am confident that this VBA supplemental will pass easily with plenty of support from both sides of the aisle, but why the political games with veterans' healthcare?

Why not address it now while we are here working on VBA funding and provide veterans and their families and the VA workforce some much- needed stability? Why not include it in the CR we are voting on tomorrow?

We must get VHA the funding it needs to provide world-class healthcare to those who served. Any delay in that care could be devastating for veterans. Enough of the brinksmanship. Republicans are shorting veterans and their families by not addressing VHA funding now along with VBA funding. Democrats are once again charged with being the adults in the room and are calling on the majority to do the right thing. Pass all of the funding VA needs now and stop any uncertainty for veterans. Let's get this done.

VHA's need for an additional $12 billion is not malfeasance or incompetence. More veterans than ever before are accessing VA healthcare. We should be celebrating and applauding that fact, not denigrating VA and its hardworking staff. When every VA request for additional funding is met with suspicion, accusations of mismanagement, and derision of VA, what is the true motivation of my colleagues? Is it to ensure that VA is able to ensure the necessary care and benefits to veterans or is it to extract a pound of political flesh?

I have no doubt that this bill will pass. It includes added reporting requirements that will aid us in our oversight responsibilities, which I support. However, let us not assign blame where there is none, and let us not denigrate those who wake up daily to do their best to serve those who have served our Nation.

Whatever we do, Mr. Speaker, let us get VA all the resources it needs to deliver for our veterans.

Mr. MIKE GARCIA of California. Mr. Speaker, this isn't about getting a pound of political flesh or making this about Republicans versus Democrats, left versus right. This is about doing what is right for our veterans. The fact is, there is a real cliff that hits at the end of this week, and tying it to a CR is a disservice. We shouldn't use veterans as political pawns within the CR conversation.

Facts are stubborn things. The executive branch owns the VA. The VA is part of the executive branch. Before we discuss the $12 billion shortfall in FY25 funding, we should require a root cause analysis to be done on why we have a shortfall this year itself. From there we will move forward.

You have our commitment as a Republican majority that we will never let the benefits of our veterans lapse as a result of anything, much less, frankly, lack of oversight by the executive branch.

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