Generally, the VA is funded through the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (MILCON-VA) Appropriations Act. The VA provides a range of benefits and services to veterans and eligible dependents who meet certain criteria as authorized by law. These benefits include medical care, disability compensation and pensions, education, vocational rehabilitation and employment services, assistance to homeless veterans, home loan guarantees, administration of life insurance and traumatic injury protection insurance for servicemembers, and death benefits that cover burial expenses. 113-146 , as amended by P.L. The act also provided mandatory funding for the Veterans Choice Program (VCP), by establishing the Veterans Choice Fund (Section 802 (a) of P.L. 115-96 ) another $2.1 billion to remain available until expended. The Choice Act mandatory funds are not part of the regular annual appropriations provided in the House-passed FY2018 MILCON-VA bill (Division K of H.R. The President's Budget Request for FY2018 and Advance Appropriations for FY2019 and Congressional Action

		The President's Request

On May 23, 2017, the President submitted his budget request to Congress for FY2018 and for the advance appropriations accounts for FY2019. The President's FY2018 budget request for the VA is $182.66 billion. Compared with the FY2017-enacted amount of $176.94 billion, this is a 3.23% (or $5.72 billion) increase. The FY2018-requested amount includes $103.95 billion in mandatory budget authority and $78.71 billion in discretionary budget authority (see Table 3 ). The Administration's budget request of $106.97 billion for FY2018 also includes $12.44 million for veterans insurance and indemnities over the FY2018 advance appropriations of $107.90 million provided in the Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act ( P.L. Compared with the FY2017-enacted amount of $65.32 billion, this is a 6.66% increase, and it includes additional funding of $2.65 billion over the FY2018 advance appropriations of $66.39 billion provided in P.L. The House passed H.R. 3354 and which was passed by the House on September 14, 2017. 3354 ) provides $182.28 billion for the VA. This includes $103.95 billion in mandatory funding and $78.33 billion in discretionary funding (see Table 3 ). Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA)

For the VBA, the House-passed measure provides $107.03 billion. Veterans Health Administration (VHA)

The House-passed bill provides $69.74 billion (without collections) for the VHA for FY2018 (see Table 4 ). This amount includes $66.39 billion provided as advance appropriations in P.L. 114-223 for FY2018 for the four accounts—medical services, medical community care, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities—and $2.65 billion in additional funding for FY2018 for those same four accounts. The total VHA amount also includes $698.23 million for the medical and prosthetic research account. Senate Appropriations Committee Action

On July 13, 2017, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of the FY2018 MILCON-VA Appropriations bill ( S. 1557 ; S.Rept. The committee-reported version would provide $182.37 billion for the VA for FY2018 (see Table 3 ). This amount includes $103.95 billion in mandatory benefits and $78.42 billion in discretionary funding. A majority of this funding will be for mandatory benefits such as disability compensation, readjustment benefits, and veterans insurance programs. 115-130 ), as reported, recommends $70.09 billion (without collections) for the VHA for FY2018 (see Table 4 ). This amount includes $66.39 billion provided as advance appropriations in P.L. 114-223 for FY2018 for the four accounts—medical services, medical community care, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities—and $2.98 billion in additional funding for FY2018 for those same four accounts. The total VHA amount also includes $722.26 million for the medical and prosthetic research account. The Senate Appropriations Committee does not address the President's proposal of $2.9 billion in mandatory funding for the continuation of the VCP in FY2018 and $3.5 billion in mandatory funding for VCP in FY2019. Continuing Appropriations for FY201831

Since none of the 12 regular appropriations bills were enacted prior to the start of FY2018 (October 1, 2017), Congress passed and the President signed several continuing resolutions (CRs) into law ( P.L. 115-56 , P.L. 115-90 , P.L. 115-96 , and P.L. 115-120 ). 115-123 ) would fund some accounts of the VA for FY2018, through March 23, 2018, through a formula based on the FY2017 level of appropriations provided in the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017 minus an across-the-board reduction of 0.6791%. Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (P.L. Division B of this act contained supplemental appropriations for disaster relief related to the consequences of hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides a range of benefits and services to veterans and eligible dependents who meet certain criteria as authorized by law. These benefits include medical care, disability compensation and pensions, education, vocational rehabilitation and employment services, assistance to homeless veterans, home loan guarantees, administration of life insurance and traumatic injury protection insurance for servicemembers, and death benefits that cover burial expenses. The VA is funded through the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (MILCON-VA) appropriations bill.
On May 23, 2017, the President submitted his budget request to Congress for FY2018 and for the advance appropriations accounts for FY2019. The President's FY2018 budget request for the VA is $182.66 billion. Compared with the FY2017-enacted amount of $176.94 billion, this would be a 3.23% (or $5.72 billion) increase. The FY2018-requested amount includes $103.95 billion in mandatory budget authority and $78.71 billion in discretionary budget authority. For the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), the President's budget request includes $106.97 billion for FY2018. For the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) the President's budget request includes $69.67 billion for FY2018, without collections. Compared with the FY2017-enacted amount of $65.32 billion, this would be a 6.66% increase, and the amount includes additional funding of $2.65 billion over the FY2018 advance appropriations of $66.39 billion provided in P.L. 114-223.
Although the Veterans Choice Program (VCP) is not part of the annual appropriations for the VA health care programs, the President is requesting $2.9 billion in mandatory funding for FY2018 and $3.5 billion for FY2019 to continue the program. In the meantime, P.L. 115-46 provided $2.1 billion in mandatory appropriations in 2017 for the Veterans Choice Fund (which funds VCP), and in 2018, P.L. 115-96 provided another $2.1 billion in mandatory appropriations. In total, Congress has provided $14.2 billion in mandatory appropriations for VCP since the program was established on August 7, 2014, including the initial $10 billion in mandatory funding provided through 2017 in P.L. 113-146, as amended.
On September 14, 2017, the House passed its version of the FY2018 MILCON-VA appropriations bill (Division K—Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations, bill, 2018 in H.R. 3354). The House-passed measure (H.R. 3354) provides $182.28 billion for the VA. This amount includes $103.95 billion in mandatory funding and $78.33 billion in discretionary funding. For the VBA, the House-passed measure provides $107.03 billion. A majority of this funding is for mandatory benefits such as disability compensation, readjustment benefits, and veterans insurance programs. For VHA, the House-passed bill provides $69.74 billion (without collections) for FY2018. This amount includes $66.39 billion provided as advance appropriations in P.L. 114-223 for FY2018 for the four accounts—medical services, medical community care, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities—and $2.65 billion in additional funding for FY2018 for those same four accounts. The total VHA amount also includes $698.23 million for the medical and prosthetic research account.
On July 13, 2017, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported its version of the FY2018 MILCON-VA Appropriations bill (S. 1557; S.Rept. 115-130). The committee-reported version would provide $182.37 billion for the VA for FY2018. This amount includes $103.95 billion in mandatory funding and $78.42 billion in discretionary funding. For the VBA, the Senate-reported bill recommends $107.04 billion for FY2018. For VHA, the committee recommends $70.09 billion (without collections) for FY2018. This amount includes $66.39 billion provided as advance appropriations in P.L. 114-223 for FY2018 for the four accounts—medical services, medical community care, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities—and $2.98 billion in additional funding for FY2018 for those same four accounts. The total VHA amount also includes $722.26 million for the medical and prosthetic research account.
Since none of the 12 regular appropriations bills were enacted prior to the start of FY2018 (October 1, 2017), Congress passed and the President signed into law several continuing resolutions (CRs) (P.L. 115-56, P.L. 115-90, P.L. 115-96, and P.L. 115-120). The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (P.L. 115-123) funds some VA accounts for FY2018 through March 23, 2018, at the FY2017 level and provides $93.5 million in supplemental appropriations for the VA for expenses related to the consequences of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria, among other things.