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WASHINGTON - Congressman Henry E. Brown, Jr. (SC), a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, joined with a majority of his colleagues in support of legislation to provide funding for our nation’s veterans during the upcoming fiscal year. The Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill (H.R. 6599) provides a record high $93.7 billion for all veterans’ programs, including $40.7 billion for veterans’ health programs. Today’s legislation continues Congress’ bipartisan commitment to meeting the needs of our nation’s veterans. After passage of the legislation, Brown, a longtime leader in the successful effort to double funding for our veterans since 2001, made the following statement:
“Meeting the needs of our veterans and current service members is a top priority as a Member of Congress. I am proud to serve as a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and am even more proud of the fact that that veterans funding has more than doubled since I took office in 2001.
At a time when almost all federal agencies are seeing their budgets held level or reduced, the significant increase in VA spending over these short years is something that I am proud to have led the fight on.
As a former Chair of the VA Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, I am especially glad that so many of these increases have gone towards ensuring that qualifying veterans have access to the highest quality health care at VA facilities, including those in the 1st District. Today’s legislation is a victory for our veterans and their families.”
The increases in the bill will allow the VA to hire an additional 2,100 benefits claims workers in order to reduce the claims processing backlog and length of time it takes to process an initial claim. H.R. 6599 also provides increases for medical care funding for all veterans, especially those returning from conflict overseas, and provides additional funding in order to increase Priority 8 enrollment by 10 percent.
In addition to passing this bill that will greatly increase funding for veterans and their families, a number of other bills that will benefit the veterans of the first district were also passed this week, including the Veterans Disability Benefits Claims Modernization Act of 2008 and the Veterans Health Care Policy Act of 2008. The Veterans Disability Benefits Claims Modernization Act of 2008 will improve the handling of claims by the Veterans Benefits Administration, and reduce the backlog in claims through modernization of existing processes. Currently, there are almost 600,000 backlogged claims at the VA. The Veterans Health Care Policy Act of 2008 also makes many important reforms to the VA system that would both increase its efficiency and support the continuation of its high quality of service. One provision of the bill will establish a Consolidated Patient Accounting Center (CPAC) in Charleston, enhancing VA revenues and bringing jobs to the district.
For more information about other legislation authored or supported by Congressman Brown, visit his website: http://brown.house.gov/Issues/veterans.html.
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