The fiscal year 2011 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations bill invests in projects and programs of critical importance to America’s veterans and military troops and their families, including veterans benefits and healthcare, and military family housing, barracks and mission critical facilities.

The bill provides $57 billion in discretionary funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and $64.0 billion for mandatory VA programs, $18.7 billion for military construction and family housing, and $1.3 billion in emergency appropriations for military construction projects in support of the war in Afghanistan.  In addition, the bill provides $50.6 billion in advance appropriations for VA medical accounts.

The investments in the bill address several significant priorities, including:

• Maintaining advance funding for veterans health benefits to ensure stable and uninterrupted services;
• Processing newly eligible VA claims for Agent Orange presumptive disabilities;
• Providing new family caregiver benefits for disabled veterans;
• Strengthening the VA workforce to tackle claims backlogs and to process new educational benefits;
• Accelerating the Army’s program to modernize troop housing for trainees;
• Addressing critical unfunded construction requirements of the Guard and Reserve;
• Expediting environmental cleanup on closed military bases.