News From the Cause
Budget Seeks 10.6% More to Fight Veterans’ Trauma: (BLOOMBERG)
February 15, 2011
President Barack Obama today proposed a $61.85 billion budget for discretionary spending on U.S. military veterans in fiscal year 2012, including $6 billion to treat troops who return from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars with post-traumatic stress disorders and brain injuries.
The total budget request for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the second-largest federal agency with about 300,000 employees, is $124.3 billion, including $65.5 billion projected for mandatory entitlements, such as disability compensation. The $124.3 billion figure does not reflect about $3 billion in anticipated revenue from health-insurance reimbursements.
The numbers used by the White House in its budget documents reflect budget outlays for the mandatory entitlements. The Department of Veterans Affairs said Monday afternoon that it had budget authority of $70 billion for the mandatory portion of its budget, bringing the total VA budget for 2012 to $132 billion.
Congress will take up the request for $61.85 billion in discretionary VA spending amid efforts to reduce budget deficits. The fiscal 2012 proposal, for the year beginning Oct. 1, represents a 10.6 percent increase over the enacted fiscal year 2010 budget for the VA. The medical component of VA discretionary funding for 2011 was approved as part of the 2010 budget. Other elements continue to be funded at 2010 level under the current continuing resolution.
It is the second largest agency budget increase after the Department of Energy, which has a proposed 12 percent increase over 2010. Click here to view more
