The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military
Construction and Veterans Affairs has approved
legislation providing $70.7 billion in direct payments
to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2006.
The announcement comes on the heels of Senate approval
of a $1.5 billion emergency supplemental for the VA as
part of the Interior Appropriations bill.
Chairman of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Larry
Craig, R–Idaho, observed that the VA’s budget has
increased nearly 50 percent in five years, from $48
billion in 2001 to around $70 billion this year —
compared to a rise in the overall federal budget of
30 percent in the same period.
“Clearly, we are going to reach a point where we cannot
continue to keep spending at this pace, but the needs of
veterans are being met,” said Craig.
