Congress scrambles to fix VA budget crisis

Veterans Affairs officials are hopeful Congress will act this week to avert a looming budget crisis that could force the department to shut down some VA hospitals.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald testified on Wednesday before the House Veterans’ Affairs committee, asking lawmakers to approve a transfer of up to $3 billion from the congressionally authorized Veterans Choice program to close the $2.5 billion budget shortfall.

Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chair Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said on Wednesday the House is working to get a package to the Senate this week that would allow the VA to shift the funds, according to a report in Government Executive. Lawmakers are running out of time to put the package together because of the impending congressional August recess.

The Veterans Choice program, the centerpiece of the legislation Congress passed last summer as part of an overhaul of the scandal-plagued department, makes it easier for veterans to receive federally paid medical care from local doctors instead of at VA facilities.

Congress authorized $10 billion over three years to fund the Choice program, and the law restricts the money to patients who participate in it. But the shortfalls in the budget are in the department’s Community Care programs, which also pay for non-VA healthcare for veterans, according to Government Executive.

VA officials say they need the flexibility of being able to pay for healthcare, no matter how they provide it.

“My biggest nightmare is veterans going without care because I have money in the wrong pocket,” McDonald told the committee.

The popularity of the Veterans Choice and Community Care programs, along with hiring 1,100 new doctors, generated an increase this year of 7 million appointments completed by the VA, including 4.5 million additional appointments with private doctors.

In his testimony before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, McDonald suggested the program’s success caused the budget shortfall. But committee members strongly criticized the department for financial mismanagement and for hiding or downplaying its budget problems.

“This is not a ‘flying-under-the-radar’ issue, yet I feel that is exactly how VA and the president have treated it, in an effort to avoid responsibility,” committee chair Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., told McDonald during the hearing Wednesday. “Someone took their eye off the ball here.”

Miller said he was shocked at the magnitude of the VA’s problems and outraged Congress was not notified until nearly 10 months into the budget year. The possible closure of hospitals was not mentioned as recently as last month, when the VA first told Congress about the potential budget shortfall, Miller said.

But despite the harsh criticism, a June 25 report in Stars and Stripes indicated Miller already pledged to work with House appropriators to allow the VA to move money to healthcare from other areas of its budget. But he said his support for such a transfer would require the department to make major financial management changes.

The VA must create a single, dedicated account to fund outside healthcare that will replace the seven “disparate, ill-executed” funds now used, he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.