Veterans Affairs faces $1 billion shortfall

Veterans Affairs faces $1 billion shortfall

The Department of Veterans Affairs told Congress that its health care costs grew faster than expected and left a $1 billion hole in its budget this year, lawmakers said Thursday.

House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Steve Buyer, the Republican from Indiana, said the department can meet this year’s health care costs by drawing on spare funds and money from other operations, including building construction.

But next year’s health care budget falls well over $1 billion short, said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

“I was on the phone this morning with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson letting him know that I am not pleased that this has happened,” said Craig, chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

“This shortfall results from either deliberate misdirection or gross incompetence by this administration and the Department of Veteran Affairs,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington.

The shortage came to light during a routine budget review. Lawmakers said they are still gathering details, but it appears health care for veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and poor budget forecasting contributed to the problem.

Several Democrats urged the Bush administration to push immediately for an emergency spending bill to fill this year’s $1 billion deficit and prevent the VA from raiding other operations to pay for health care.

Craig said he didn’t yet see the need for emergency action but planned to call VA officials to a hearing next week to pin down more precise spending figures.

“We’re going to pound them like hell ’til we get them, then we’ll make some judgments,” he said.

Murray had urged lawmakers to give the VA an extra $2 billion this spring, while they assembled an $82 billion emergency spending bill on war and homeland security, but the VA said it didn’t need any more money.

Overall the administration has proposed increasing the Veterans Affairs Department budget by 2.7 percent to $70.8 billion next year.