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

Share:
In Other News
No more stories