‘At What Point Does VA Become Adequately Funded?’ Republicans Question Record Budget Request – By Steve Beynon (Military.com) / May 27 2021
Republican lawmakers are concerned about the Department of Veterans Affairs’ ballooning budget and question the agency’s need for yet another huge funding boost, given it has already received $36 billion in pandemic supplements.
The VA is the second-largest federal agency and a complex organization. Its budget has expanded significantly since 9/11. In 2000, the agency’s budget was $47 billion; this year, it is $240 billion. With that funding, it provides health care to nine million patients, administers the GI Bill, and facilitates a popular home loan program for veterans.
Between 2020 and 2021, the department’s budget jumped 12%, soaring past any other federal agency’s rate of growth, including the Defense Department.
Most of the spending can be attributed to an aging population of veterans from 20th-century wars, on top of an influx of a new generation of post-9/11 veterans.
