WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs' proposed Fiscal Year 2024 budget would give the department its largest appropriation in history: $325.1 billion.
However, the 5% increase is the VA's lowest percentage hike in the past nine years and it does not keep pace with the current 6.4% rate of inflation.
Still, VA Secretary Denis McDonough is praising the plan, telling the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday that the budget as submitted is more than sufficient.
"Vets deserve our very best. And with this budget, we can count on serving them as well as they have served us," he said.
But one proposal to limit non-defense discretionary spending for all federal departments to Fiscal Year 2022 levels is coming under fire, as to how the idea could affect the VA.
Opponents said such a move would underfund the department by $30 billion dollars.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) called that plan "reckless" and said the impacts on veterans would be "devastating."
She said: "Wait times will increase and veterans won't be able to access all the care they need. Tel-A-Health services will be restricted, which will particularly negatively impact our rural veterans, The claims backlog will continue to grow, and they'll have to wait even longer to receive the benefits they've earned."
The VA provided services to more than seven million veteran patients last year.
McDonough said the proposed budget would provide more than $16 billion for suicide prevention efforts, which he said "is our top clinical priority."