The Veterans Affairs Department would get a budget boost under the president's 2016 request, gaining $9 billion overall for total funding of $169 billion, and a nearly 8 percent increase in funding for discretionary spending, to $73.5 billion.
Other data points for VA:
- $56 billion for veterans health care;
- $1.2 billion for telehealth technologies;
- $253 million for IT to support electronic claims processing;
- $141 million for the Veterans Claims Intake Program to continue converting paper records to digital information;
- $86 million to improve customer service for online access and call centers.
If adopted, the budget would continue a steady rise in VA program spending that has been ongoing since 2004.
Full Coverage: Federal Budget 2016