Congressman Bishop Statement on FY 2016 MILCON/VA Appropriations Bill Mark Up

Statement

Today, Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies, issued the following statement regarding the passage of the Fiscal Year 2016 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act out of the full U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee.

"The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act has a strong reputation for finding bipartisan common ground as members work together to fund the construction of military facilities and strive to improve the quality of life and care afforded to our veterans and military families. I am pleased the Committee continues to demonstrate strong support of our service members, but recognize that serious challenges remain in fulfilling our responsibility to veterans and moving the appropriations process forward under such inadequate sequester funding levels.

"Passage of this bill maintains the tough but fair reporting requirements for DoD-VA Electronic Health Records integration, prioritizes the elimination of the VA claims backlog, as well as provides necessary funding for military maintenance and construction of military family housing, information technology, and medical facilities.

"However, I believe that it is well past time to be more strategic about how we handle our federal budget, so we can eventually stop lurching from one fiscal crisis to the next. The Majority chose to lock in sequester levels of funding, forcing a shift in a portion of the Military Construction budget into the Overseas Contingency Operations account, and a major reduction in the VA's construction budget. Today's markup is another step in a long appropriations process, and while I am concerned about the impact of these reductions, I am hopeful that these concerns will be addressed as we move further towards full passage."

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