Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senators Collins and Murray, as well as my Democratic counterpart on the MILCON-VA Subcommittee Senator Ossoff in presenting the fiscal year 2026 and 2027 for the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the Department of Military Construction.

It is important to remember that we followed tradition in crafting the bill in a very open and a very bipartisan way. So it is built on a strong foundation and deserves the support of our colleagues.

This bill takes into consideration the needs of our veterans, their families, and our servicemembers. And within that framework, we have created a thoughtful path--a path forward for both Departments and their related Agencies.

This bill provides $153.5 billion of discretionary spending. Of that amount, the Department of Veterans Affairs has provided $133.3 billion in discretionary funding. When combined with the $49.8 billion from the Toxic Exposures Fund, veterans' medical care will be funded at a total of $163.6 billion in fiscal year 2026.

Our bill funds priority accounts to prevent veteran suicide as well as increase rural access to healthcare through significant investments for the Office of Rural Health.

Additionally, we allocated approximately $23 billion to support critical mental health issues and programs to prevent veterans' homelessness and provide funding for innovative medical research.

The bill also funds mandatory veterans' benefits, which are earned benefits that include disability pensions, employment training programs, and educational benefits.

We also make advanced appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for certain accounts, including $122.3 billion for veterans' medical care and $262.1 billion for mandatory veterans' benefits.

In addition, we are delivering $19.8 billion to support military construction and family housing units, which are important to both readiness and morale. Our bill will give the Department of Defense the resources it needs to project power globally, enhance our warfighting capabilities, and train our forces.

Importantly, we provide $1.9 billion to improve housing and quality of life for servicemembers and their families.

I also want to note that the bill includes robust funding for related Agencies, which include the American Battle Monuments Commission, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Armed Forces Retirement Home.

Funding at these priorities at these levels represents solid bipartisan work to provide the resources necessary for our veterans, their families, and the servicemembers defending our Nation, which was evident with the passage of the measure in the Appropriations Committee by a vote of 26 to 3.

I want to again thank Senator Ossoff as well as Chair Collins and Vice Chair Murray for their hard work and collaboration. And also a special thanks to our staff who worked so, so very hard to put the bill together.

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