07.11.24

BILL SUMMARY: Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Fiscal Year 2025 Appropriations Bill

 

Legislation supports our veterans, servicemembers, and military families and strengthens our national security and readiness at installations across the globe  

 

Washington, D.C. – The Fiscal Year 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act provides the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and related agencies $129.57 billion in non-defense discretionary funding, as well as $210.41 billion in mandatory funding, to fulfill our nation’s obligations to our veterans. The bill also provides advance appropriations for our veterans in fiscal year 2026, including $131.44 billion for veterans’ medical care and $222.23 billion for veterans benefits. In addition, the bill includes $19.31 billion in defense spending for military construction and family housing for fiscal year 2025.

 

“This bill provides servicemembers with the infrastructure needed to work, train, and live, and to provide them and their families with child care, schools, and medical facilities. It supports the nation’s defense by funding facilities supporting the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program, and military installation resilience,” said Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Chair of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. “It supports VA programs to provide the care and benefits that veterans have earned through their service, including additional funding for medical research, state veterans homes, and state cemeteries. This bill fully funds the Administration’s request to keep the promises we have made to veterans.”

 

“When our veterans come home, we have an obligation to ensure they get the benefits and care that they have earned—and that’s what this bill does with essential funding for our veterans, including critical investments to tackle veteran homelessness, provide mental health services, and get our women veterans the health care they have earned,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “It is also critical that our servicemembers and their families have the support they need to thrive—and that’s why the resources this bill delivers to construct and improve military housing, child care centers, and other quality of life facilities are so important. Moreover, this bill invests in ensuring our military infrastructure is resilient and equipped to meet a host of new threats and responsibilities across the globe.”

 

Key Points & Highlights – Department of Veterans Affairs

 

Delivers the medical care and benefits veterans have earned and deserve

 

VA Medical Care: The bill fully funds the President’s request and provides $112.59 billion for VA medical care in fiscal year 2025 to provide essential health services for more than 9.1 million veterans. This is in addition to funding previously appropriated for the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund to cover the cost of health care related to toxic exposures. This bill funds critical priorities including:

  • Rural Health – $343 million, $5 million more than the President’s budget request, to support improved access to care, including expanded access to transportation and telehealth.
  • Caregivers – $2.9 billion, $500 million more than fiscal year 2024, to help VA implement this critical program and extend legacy participant eligibility and benefits.
  • Women’s Health – $1.3 billion, $333 million more than fiscal year 2024, for gender-specific health care services, as well as initiatives and improvements to health care facilities.
  • Veteran Homelessness Prevention – $3.2 billion, $97 million more than in fiscal year 2024, to support critical services and housing assistance for veterans and their families experiencing housing insecurity.
  • Mental Health – $16.4 billion, $137 million more than in fiscal year 2024, to get veterans the mental health services they deserve. This includes $583 million for suicide prevention outreach.
  • Child Care – $18.6 million to expand the Child Care Pilot Program and eliminate barriers for veterans in need of child care while attending medical appointments, as well as $3 million for infrastructure modifications to support the Department’s efforts to create drop-in child care centers.

 

Benefits Administration: The bill provides $4 billion, a $136 million increase over fiscal year 2024, to administer benefits—including disability compensation benefits—to nearly 6.9 million veterans and their survivors. These funds will support VA’s efforts to increase the number and scope of claims while decreasing the claims backlog. This amount is supported by additional funding previously appropriated to the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund to enhance VA’s ability to process veteran claims related to toxic exposures.

 

Medical and Prosthetics Research: The bill provides $878 million for medical and prosthetics research, $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.

 

Infrastructure: The bill strengthens VA’s infrastructure by providing $2.45 billion for major and minor construction, $796 million over the fiscal year 2024, and by providing $307 million for construction from the Recurring Expenses Transformation Fund. The bill further provides $150 million for construction of state extended care facilities, $9 million over the President’s budget request, and $65 million for construction of state, territory, and Tribal veterans cemeteries—$5 million over the President’s budget request.

 

Information Technology: The bill provides $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. In addition, the bill provides $894 million in funding for the Electronic Health Record Modernization effort to prioritize improvements at the sites that currently use the new system before deploying to other facilities.

 

Honoring Our PACT Act: The Fiscal Responsibility Act provided full funding for the Toxic Exposures Fund for fiscal year 2025.

 

Key Points & Highlights – Military Construction

 

Builds on investments made to strengthen our national security with more modern, resilient military infrastructure, and funds construction of and improvements to critical quality of life facilities for our servicemembers and their families

 

Strengthening National Security: The bill provides a historic level of funding for more than 250 military construction and family housing projects, as well as for minor construction and design accounts. These projects support operational requirements by providing new training, maintenance, and research and development facilities, modernizing infrastructure enabling the Nuclear Triad, and supporting new aircraft beddowns. The bill includes over $2 billion in support of the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program for the design and construction of projects at each of the four public shipyards.

 

Supporting Our Servicemembers and Military Families: The bill provides nearly $2 billion for new family housing construction and to maintain and upgrade existing units, as well as to strengthen oversight of privatized housing. Additionally, it includes over $2.1 billion for community facilities such as child development and youth centers, high schools, medical facilities, and troop housing. This includes $1 billion for the design and construction of more than a dozen barracks to increase the availability of quality housing for unaccompanied troops and $165 million for the design and construction of child development centers.

 

Critical Overseas Infrastructure: The bill strengthens our global posture by providing more than $1 billion for Pacific Deterrence Initiative projects across the Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) theater, and it builds on prior year efforts to enable early investment in planning for future military infrastructure needs in the region. Additionally, recognizing the importance of infrastructure to a sustained and capable U.S. and allied military presence in Europe, the bill funds over $1 billion for projects and accounts that support our European posture—including $434 million for the NATO Security Investment Program, fully funding the U.S. cost share for NATO military construction projects.

 

Installation and Energy Resilience: The bill continues efforts to ensure our bases and military infrastructure across the globe are resilient. This bill includes $30 million for design and minor construction for Military Installation Resilience, which enables the Department of Defense to develop and construct projects that help address facility and installation vulnerabilities, particularly related to climate-driven threats. It also includes $732 million for the Energy Resilience and Conservation Investment Program, which funds over a dozen microgrid and power resilience facilities to improve installation energy reliability and security.

 

Key Points & Highlights – Related Agencies

 

Arlington National Cemetery: This bill continues unwavering support for Arlington National Cemetery and its future as an active cemetery. In addition to providing $105.5 million for operations costs, which is $5.6 million more than fiscal year 2024, it also includes $42 million for continued expansion of burial space.

 

American Battle Monuments Commission: Recognizing the important mission of the American Battle Monuments Commission, the bill provides $94.5 million, which is $5 million over the President’s budget request. This funding supports the operation and maintenance of 26 American military burial grounds, including facility, utility infrastructure, and visitor center improvements.

 

Armed Forces Retirement Home: The bill provides a total of $100.5 million, which funds operations and maintenance activities at the Armed Forces Retirement Home campuses in Washington, D.C., and Gulfport, Mississippi, including $31 million in construction costs for renovation of housing on the Washington, D.C. campus.

 

Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims: This bill provides $47.3 million for the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims and supports the court’s capacity to adjudicate appeals in a timely manner.

 

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