FY 2010 VA Budget Includes $3.2 Billion for Homeless Vets

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Dec. 16, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act – as part of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act – into law. The conference bill, which had been approved by conferees only eight days earlier, swiftly passed the House and Senate to become Public Law No: 111-117.

The law totals $446.8 billion in discretionary budget authority, with $134.6 billion designated for "Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies." Of that $134.6 billion, $53 billion in discretionary funding and $56.6 billion in mandatory funding have been allocated to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). 

$45.1 billion has been allocated to the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), $3.2 billion of which will go toward assistance for homeless veterans. An additional $50 million will go toward the renovation of vacant buildings on VA campuses to be used as supportive housing for homeless veterans. 

Also, for the first time in history, the law includes advance VA appropriations to ensure a stable and uninterrupted source of funding for veterans’ medical care; $48.2 billion is included for VA medical programs in FY 2011. 

A summary and breakdown of VA funding follows:  

Department of Veterans Affairs: $109.6 billion, $15.3 billion above 2009 and $747 million above the request. Total discretionary funding is $5.4 billion above 2009. 

• Veterans Health Administration: $45.1 billion, matching the request and $4.1 billion above 2009, for veterans medical care. The VHA estimates it will treat more than 6.1 million patients in 2010, including more than 419,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan (56,000 more than 2009).
  
  
  • Assistance for Homeless Veterans: $3.2 billion, matching the request and $421 million above 2009, for health care and support services for homeless veterans. Includes $26 million for a Presidential Initiative to combat homelessness, $150 million for the Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program (GPD), $20 million for supportive services for low-income veterans and families, and $21 million to hire additional personnel for the HUD-VA Supportive Housing program.
    
    
  • Rural Health: $250 million as requested to continue the Rural Health Initiative and an additional $30 million to increase the number of Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) in rural areas for veterans who do not have ready access to VA hospitals. More than 3.2 million (41 percent) of enrolled veterans live in rural or highly rural areas.
    
    
  • Mental Health: $4.6 billion, matching the request and $300 million above 2009, for mental health care to treat the psychological wounds of returning combat veterans. Includes an additional $1 million to provide education debt relief as a hiring incentive for mental health professionals.
    
    
  • Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans: $2.1 billion, matching the request and $463 million above 2009, to meet the health care needs of veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The VA estimates the number of OEF/OIF veterans in its health care system in 2010 will have increased by 61 percent since 2008.
    
    
  • Women Veterans Programs: $183 million, matching the request, to meet the unique needs of women veterans.
    
    
  • Long-term Care: $5.9 billion, matching the request, for both institutional and home-based programs for aging veterans as well as severely wounded OEF/OIF veterans.
    
    
  • Medical and Prosthetic Research: $581 million, $71 million above 2009, for research in a number of areas including mental health, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, burn injury, polytrauma injuries and sensory loss. Includes a $48 million increase for research to address the critical needs of OEF/OIF veterans.
    
    
  • Medical Facilities: $4.9 billion, $166 million above the President’s Request and $170 million below 2009. Includes a $130 million increase for non-recurring maintenance at existing facilities, $30 million for additional CBOCs in rural areas, and $5 million for additional contracting personnel.
     
• VA Construction Programs: $1.9 billion, $103 million above the request and $232 million above 2009.
  
  
  • Major Construction: $1.2 billion for VA facilities, including hospitals and clinics, to enable the VA to implement the recommendations made by the Capitol Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) Commission, which was established to look at facilities and determine their construction needs.
    
    
  • Minor Construction: $703 million, $39 million below 2009 and $103 million above the President’s Request, including $50 million for the renovation of vacant buildings on VA campuses to be used as housing with supportive services for homeless veterans. This program will strengthen the VA’s goal of eliminating homelessness among veterans by providing housing and counseling services in settings that are in close proximity for VA hospitals.
    
    
• State Extended Care Facilities: $100 million, $15 million above the request and $75 million below 2009, for grants to states for construction and renovation of extended care veterans’ facilities. States must provide 35 percent of the cost, while the VA pays the other 65 percent.
  
  
• Information Technology: $3.3 billion, matching the request, to develop the next generation of electronic health care records, paperless claims systems, and seamless integration of medical and service records with the Department of Defense.
  
  
• VA Benefits Claims Processors: $1.7 billion, $223 million above 2009, in general operating expenses to enable the VA to hire roughly 1,200 additional claims processors to continue to address the backlog of benefits claims and to reduce the time to process new claims. The most recent VA quarterly status report estimates nearly 397,000 claims are pending.
  
  
• Inspector General: $109 million, $2 million above the request and $21.2 million above 2009, to provide additional oversight personnel for initiatives regarding financial audit and information technology program reviews, and to expand oversight of Veterans Benefits Administration regional offices to prevent waste, fraud and abuse.

For more information on the Consolidated Appropriations Act and the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, click here.

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