Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026
Floor Speech
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Mr. ALFORD. 3944, and that I may include tabular material on the same.
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Mr. ALFORD. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I am honored to present the fiscal year 2026 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill to the House today. This bill supports our troops, their families, and our Nation's veterans.
The bill includes nearly $18 billion for military construction efforts. It is critical that our servicemembers and their families have the infrastructure and support they need. This bill delivers to construct and improve military housing, childcare centers, and other quality-of-life components that are so important to those who risk so much.
This bill continues to build on investments that strengthen our national security through the construction of modern infrastructure and improvements to critical quality-of-life facilities for our servicemembers and their families.
Additionally, we continue to provide significant funding to build upon prior years' work to enable the Department of Defense to meet the challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
The bill honors our commitment to our Nation's veterans and to our troops. To honor that commitment, the bill provides full funding for healthcare and benefits for veterans. Our veterans have earned these benefits, and we are making good on our promises to them. That includes fully funding our commitment to the PACT Act.
The bill continues robust investments in women's health, rural health, veterans' homelessness issues, and mental health. The legislation maintains all the funding for medical and prosthetic research. It increases funding for VA infrastructure and supports Arlington National Cemetery. It invests in the improvement, operations, and maintenance of burial grounds for those who have sacrificed.
I thank Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz. I am glad we are at this step in the process and hope that we continue to work together to support our troops and our veterans.
Everyone--everyone, Mr. Chair--should understand that this bill cares for our veterans. It supports our troops and their families. This bill keeps the promises that we have made to our heroes.
Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3944, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I, unfortunately, could not possibly disagree with the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Alford), my friend, more on the description of this bill, which is why I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 3944, the fiscal year 2026 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies bill.
While I unfortunately cannot support the bill on the floor today, I will say in Chairman Carter's absence that I am thankful and appreciative of the work that we have been able to accomplish together over the years on this subcommittee. I know he and I both prioritize quality of life for our servicemembers and their families and caring for our veterans.
Unfortunately, this bill hurtles us toward VA privatization, a top Project 2025 priority that undercuts what veterans consistently ask us for in Congress. They want high-quality medical care at the VA; not privatized care that takes longer to receive.
By transferring record funding from VA medical services to community care, which is a 67 percent increase of $14 billion, this bill pushes veterans into private care, even though veteran polls and studies show that when given the option, veterans prefer to receive their medical care at the VA.
In 2024, veteran trust in VA healthcare rose to a record 92 percent. We should build on this success, not kick veterans to an already crowded private market. I understand that there is a need for community care, especially for veterans in rural areas and specialty care when necessary, and when appointments at the VA are scarce.
However, countless studies show that when veterans seek care at private hospitals and clinics, they wait longer to see providers, and they get worse care. They know VA medical professionals choose this work due to their mission to care for our veterans, and that is something the private sector simply cannot replicate.
We should invest more in VA provider recruitment and retention incentives, increase benefits counselors and adjudicators, not ignore veterans' wishes and speed recklessly into privatization.
On the military construction side, this bill underfunds military construction by $904 million compared to the President's budget request, and fails to fund some specific needs such as installation resilience and NATO infrastructure commitments. As Russia continues to wage an illegal war in Ukraine and threaten Europe, we should be sending a clear sign that we stand with our NATO allies, allies who have stood by us for decades. We are talking about infrastructure for our troops who are over there, as well as our allies' troops.
We all know that warming global temperatures are having a devastating impact on our military installations, including sea level rise, recurrent flooding, hurricanes, and extreme weather, as well as extreme heat and drought, yet this bill includes zero dedicated funding to mitigate this extreme weather damage to our installations and force readiness.
We have seen time and again what devastating extreme weather can do to installations. In 2018, Hurricane Michael mauled Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, my home State, and cost the Air Force $4.9 billion to rebuild. When Typhoon Mawar ran through Guam and devastated the island, this Congress provided almost $1.8 billion to begin recovering from the damage. Unfortunately, we know that future need from Typhoon Mawar will cost many billions more.
Finally, this bill includes a plethora of harmful poison pill riders. It once again prohibits the VA from implementing its interim final rule to protect a woman's right to abortion and counseling. The message sent on that is clear: Republicans want to further limit women's access to healthcare.
Never mind if an abortion is in the best medical interest for the veteran, between her and her doctor. Disturbingly, Republicans think you should only have access to abortion if you are dying.
This bill has the government making personal medical decisions for veterans, not their doctor or the veteran themselves. It is a cruel and ironic way to treat those who fight for our freedoms by taking them away.
This bill also undermines VA's ability to keep at-risk veterans safe by preventing VA from reporting a beneficiary to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. This rider prohibits VA from following Federal law to keep guns out of the hands of people who Federal law says should not have them because they are a danger to themselves or others.
My subcommittee receives notifications every time there is a suicide on VA property. Over the last year, Mr. Chairman, we received suicide notices from Asheville, Los Angeles, McAllen, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, south Texas, Puget Sound, and many, many more. Every single veteran committed suicide with a firearm. Every single one.
With all of these serious concerns, I cannot in good conscience support this bill. I urge my colleagues to oppose it, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. ALFORD. Mr. Chair, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Today is the first of 12 essential steps that the House Appropriations Committee will take to restore strong, responsible governance under the golden age of the Trump administration.
Just this past weekend, Missouri's own 509th Bomb Wing and the 131st Guard Wing of Whiteman Air Force Base in my district demonstrated the vital role that our B-2 long-range strike force plays in preserving national and international security.
Drone warfare between Ukraine and Russia has shown just how vulnerable strategic assets can be. This bill emphasizes the importance of modernizing and hardening our infrastructure for the world's most advanced air wings, such as the B-21 Raider.
Our greatest asset, though, is not our aircraft. I think the ranking member would agree, it is our people. This bill makes bold strides to improve the quality of life for our servicemembers and their families. It expands childcare options. It enhances access to tutoring for children of fallen and disabled veterans, and it supports the daily needs of the men and women who wear the uniform.
Access to a VA facility is not a reality for some of our rural veterans. I hear this each and every day out in my district, 24 counties southeast of Kansas City. This bill, though, ensures that they are not forgotten. We increased access opportunities by increasing the funds available for community care.
In a powerful act of bipartisanship, we are strengthening the Veterans Crisis Line. When a veteran calls, someone must answer. Increased staffing and resources will help ensure that support is there each and every time.
Mr. Chair, our veterans fought for us. It is time that we fight for them. This bill does that, and I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill, a vote to support our veterans.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I would certainly agree with the gentleman from Missouri if the Trump administration under Elon Musk's DOGE effort hadn't actually fired employees and interrupted the ability of employees of the Veterans Crisis Line from actually doing their job.
We have no idea how many people lost their lives as a result of that interruption in service. I would love to agree with the gentleman, but unfortunately, the facts on the ground actually reflect that they do not share the same commitment that we do to ensure the safety of our servicemembers and making sure that we look out for them.
Mr. Chair, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), the distinguished ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.
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