In a 27-0 vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee has unanimously approved the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Fiscal Year 2025 Appropriations Bill. This critical legislation allocates substantial funding to ensure the Department of Veterans Affairs and related agencies can continue to support our nation's veterans and their families.
The Fiscal Year 2025 Appropriations Act provides $129.57 billion in non-defense discretionary funding and $210.41 billion in mandatory funding to fulfill our nation's obligations to veterans. Additionally, the bill ensures future support with advance appropriations for FY 2026, including $131.44 billion for veterans’ medical care and $222.23 billion for veterans' benefits. It also includes $19.31 billion in defense spending for military construction and family housing for FY 2025.
Key allocations in the bill include $878 million for medical and prosthetics research, which is $10 million more than the President’s budget request. This funding supports ongoing and new research in areas such as traumatic brain injury and precision oncology and is augmented by additional funding for research into toxic exposures in the Toxic Exposures Fund. The bill also strengthens VA’s infrastructure by providing $2.45 billion for major and minor construction projects, $796 million over the fiscal year 2024, and $307 million for construction from the Recurring Expenses Transformation Fund. Additionally, the bill allocates $150 million for the construction of state extended care facilities, $9 million over the President’s budget request, and $65 million for the construction of state, territory, and Tribal veterans cemeteries—$5 million over the President’s budget request.
The bill includes $6.3 billion for information technology systems, in addition to funding previously provided through the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund to support PACT Act rollout. Furthermore, it provides $894 million in funding for the Electronic Health Record Modernization effort, prioritizing improvements at the sites currently using the new system before deploying it to other facilities.
The Fiscal Responsibility Act provided full funding for the Toxic Exposures Fund for fiscal year 2025, ensuring comprehensive support for veterans affected by toxic exposures.
This bill marks a significant step forward in fulfilling our commitments to veterans and ensuring the wellbeing of servicemembers and their families. NAVREF applauds the Committee’s unanimous decision and looks forward to the continued support and advocacy for our nation’s heroes.
