OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Veterans' Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009

Floor Speech

Date: June 23, 2009
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Veterans Health and Health Care

VETERANS HEALTH CARE BUDGET REFORM AND TRANSPARENCY ACT OF 2009 -- (House of Representatives - June 23, 2009)

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Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1016, as amended, a bill that would authorize appropriations for several veterans health care accounts a year in advance beginning with fiscal year 2011. I also thank Chairman Filner for bringing this bill forward and trying to solve a problem that we've had in the past.

The goal of the bill is to provide an increased level of fiscal certainty regarding operations of the VA hospital system. By funding the accounts for medical services, medical support and compliance, medical facilities, information technology systems, and medical and prosthetic research, the Department of Veterans Affairs should be able to manage its health care personnel needs in day-to-day operations. I would note that the last three accounts that I mentioned were included in the bill by an amendment offered by the ranking member, Mr. Buyer, and adopted by the full committee. Adding these accounts has improved the bill by providing more complete medical funding needs.

Advanced funding alone will not solve the VA's ability to provide quality medical care. Without accurate predictive data, advanced appropriations will not necessarily provide the right amount of funding the VA needs to operate its health care system. Therefore, the bill also contains provisions that require a combination of reports and analysis to determine the quality of the data VA will be using in its financial model to determine funding needs.

Mr. Speaker, this bill, while not a perfect solution, is a very reasonable way to allow the advanced funding concept to be tested in practice, and I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 1016, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, again I would ask that my colleagues vote for this bill. I appreciate Mr. Filner's hard work on the bill. I think it's a great step in the right direction. And then also I would like to thank Ranking Member Buyer for offering a good amendment that I think helped the bill also

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