President Obama proposed an IT budget of $3.3 billion for the VA Department for the fiscal year of 2011. Now the Senate panel has decided to add another 1% ($30 million) for fiscal 2011 for various projects.The increased funds will go into projects that are in the Veterans Health Administration, as well as the Veterans Benefits Administration. The senate committee also wanted to increase funding for the Veteran Affairs Telehealth budget by 23%.
Ironically, Roger Baker, the Veterans Affairs Department CIO, said he did not need any more funding for fiscal 2011. If all of these new increase proposals go through, Baker and the VA Department will have a budget of nearly $7 billion.
