A House Appropriations subcommittee passed a bill, by voice vote, that would provide $250.9 billion in fiscal year 2021 funds for military construction and veterans affairs initiatives.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would receive $104.8 billion in FY 2021 appropriations, including $12.5 billion in emergency spending to support veterans’ health care and $2.6 billion to continue the deployment of a new electronic health record system, the committee said Monday.
The measure would allocate $10.1 billion for military construction programs, including $1.49 billion for family housing, $596 million or construction of Guard and Reserve facilities and $581 million for base realignment and closure.
“The MilCon/VA bill includes historic spending for women veterans, mental health, suicide prevention, medical research, and homeless prevention, while closely monitoring VA claims processing and system modernizations,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chairwoman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on military construction, veterans affairs and related agencies.
“This bill also provides robust funding to improve service members' and their families’ quality of life and continues the fight against Russian aggression and emerging threats in the Middle East and North Africa.”
The proposed legislation, which is now headed for a markup by the full House Appropriations Committee, would authorize $276 million in discretionary funds for related agencies.
