Pine State News

Washington, D.C. – The Senate Committee on Appropriations on June 22, 2023 approved the Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (MilCon-VA) Appropriations Act, providing support for critical housing, infrastructure, and facilities for U.S. military forces and their families, as well as increased funding for veterans health care and benefits. 

The measure, which was advanced by a bipartisan vote of 28-0, provides $154.352 billion in discretionary funding—an increase of $184 million above the FY23 enacted level—including $19.07 billion in defense funding and $135.282 billion in non-defense funding.  

"The significant investments this legislation makes in America’s military are critical to our national security, helping to ensure our military’s readiness and safety while reducing maintenance costs.  The bill also supports much-needed funding to improve medical care and housing for our nation’s veterans,” said Senator Collins.  “As the Vice Chairman of the Appropriations Committee, I will continue to champion this funding as the appropriations process moves forward.” 

“This bill bolsters our military infrastructure through critical investments that will enhance our capabilities to defend our nation’s interests against global security threats, including by funding the future pilot training center in Fort Smith, Arkansas,” said Senator John Boozman, Ranking Member of the MilCon-VA Appropriations Subcommittee.  “It also helps ensure our country lives up to the promises we made to our veterans, honoring their service and sacrifice with improvements to telehealth measures, health services for women and suicide-prevention initiatives.  This bipartisan measure reflects our strong commitment to the men and women who wear America’s uniform – past, present and future.” 

Bill Highlights: 

Military Construction: $19.07 billion for the Department of Defense military construction activities.  This amount funds 163 major construction projects at military bases and installations around the world to enhance resiliency and support warfighter readiness.  Within this amount, the bill provides $1.9 billion to improve and maintain housing for servicemembers and their families. 

Veterans Affairs: $134.8 billion in discretionary funds for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), an increase of $85 million over the FY23 enacted level.  

• VA Medical Care: $121 billion for VA medical care, an increase of $2.3 billion over the FY23 enacted level, including $16.2 billion for mental health; $5.2 billion for telehealth services; $3.1 billion for veterans homelessness programs; $2.4 billion for the Caregivers Program; $715 million for opioid misuse prevention and treatment; $938 million for medical and prosthetic research; $1.3 billion for health care specifically for women veterans; and $347 million for rural health initiatives. 

• VA IT Systems: $6.4 billion for information technology systems, an increase of $619 million over the FY23 enacted level, to support the development, operations, and maintenance of systems. 
• VA Electronic Health Record: $1.3 billion for the veterans electronic health record, a decrease of $425 million from the FY23 enacted level and $529 million below the request, reflecting VA’s revised requirements in light of the program reset and pause in new site deployments.   
• VA Mandatory Funding: $161.7 billion for mandatory veterans benefits, including veteran disability compensation programs, education benefits, and vocational rehabilitation and employment training. 
• Advanced Appropriations: $112.6 billion in FY25 advance discretionary funding for veterans health care and $193 billion in FY25 advance mandatory funding for veterans benefits. 

Original source can be found here.