On October 30, VetsFirst joined with over 20 veterans organizations to support legislation that will ensure VA benefits and services are never again delayed due to a government shutdown. The recent shutdown highlighted the need to ensure that VA has the funding it requires to not only maintain access to health care but also to process disability claims and pay disability compensation.
In 2009, President Obama signed the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-81). This legislation provided VA with a one year advance budget for VA health care. Providing this funding for VA health care allows better planning and promotes stability. During a government shutdown, it also ensures that VA health care will continue to operate without delay. For example, the recent shutdown delayed disability claims processing but not access to health care.
For many veterans, the government shutdown caused concern and confusion about whether disability compensation and other benefits would be paid on November 1. Although Congress doesn’t have discretion about how much funding to give VA to pay disability compensation it must still provide VA with the funding to ensure that benefits will be paid on time. The resolution of the government shutdown ensured that benefits were paid. However, this concern highlighted that other areas of VA’s budget beyond health care must be protected.
VetsFirst supports a bipartisan legislative solution that would provide advance funding for all of VA’s budget. The Putting Veterans Funding First Act (H.R. 813/S. 932) is a common sense solution that would extend advance funding for all VA programs operated with discretionary funding (for example, disability claims processing). To fully protect veterans, however, we also believe that the legislation should be amended to provide advance funding for paying VA disability compensation and other benefits payments. This would ensure that during a prolonged government shutdown veterans disability compensation, pension, and other benefits would continue to be paid.
Veterans should not have to worry whether the VA services and benefits they depend on will be there for them in the event of a government shutdown. We urge Congress to act swiftly in passing the Putting Veterans Funding First Act.