Military Construction, Veterans’ Affairs Spending Bill Clears Committee

On May 21, the House Appropriations Committee approved, by voice vote, the FY2014 Military Construction, Veterans’ Affairs, and Related Agencies spending bill (as-yet-unnumbered). The Military Construction, Veterans’ Affairs, and Related Agencies subcommittee approved the measure on May 15 (see The Source, 5/17/13).

According to the committee report, the bill would provide $157.782 billion in overall funding for military construction programs at the Department of Defense (DoD) and programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). This amount is $12.939 billion over the amount enacted for FY2013* and $1.37 billion below President Obama’s FY2014 budget request. The total includes $84.461 billion and $73.32 billion in mandatory and discretionary funds, respectively. The measure also includes $55.634 billion in advance appropriations for VA medical programs in FY2015.

The chart below details funding levels for programs important to women and their families.

With regard to military sexual assault programs within the VA, “The committee strongly encourages the VA to strengthen the resources provided to veterans who were victims of military sexual assault, particularly the availability of mental health services” (p. 38). The committee also would address access by veterans in rural areas to mental health services for survivors of military sexual trauma (MST) (p. 39).

The committee also expressed its concern about the lack of consistency among MST-related disability claims and would require the VA to “report to the committee certain information regarding MST-related claims to ensure veterans across the country receive consistent, timely, and accurate decisions based on these claims” (p. 49).

The VA would be required to report to the committee regarding “the availability of inpatient facilities for female veterans, an inventory of available resources, and recommendations from the department on areas for improvement” (p. 54).

The report notes the committee’s concern that many veterans have never been tested for HIV/AIDS and encourages the VA to implement rapid HIV testing technologies (p. 40).

The committee encourages the DoD “to ensure that child development centers located on military installations offer a safe child care environment and meet professional standards for early childhood education” (p. 20).

*In September 2012, Congress enacted a continuing resolution (CR) (P.L. 112-175), which later was extended through September 2013 (see The Source, 3/25/13). The funding levels in the CR later were subject to an across-the-board reduction, also known as sequester, imposed by the Budget Control Act (P.L. 112-25). Unless otherwise noted, FY2013 funding levels noted do not reflect enactment of the CR and sequester.

**Reflects the across-the-board sequester reduction.