Ranking Member DeLauro Statement at the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request Hearing for the Department of Veterans Affairs

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Committee, delivered the following remarks at the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee's hearing on the Fiscal Year 2025 budget request for the Department of Veterans Affairs:

Thank you, Chairman Carter and Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz for holding this hearing.

I want to welcome our witness, Secretary McDonough, and thank you for appearing before the subcommittee today.

And thank you for your leadership and public service to our nation. Upholding our commitments to our nation’s heroes is a critical mission, and your stewardship of the Department of Veterans Affairs has helped ensure that servicemembers and their families are receiving the care and support they need and deserve.

In the first bipartisan funding package for fiscal year 2024, I am proud that we supported our veterans with investments in health care, including investments that advance women's health, mental health, and homelessness assistance.

We provided $121 billion for VA medical care, and we protected funding for women’s health care – all while defeating attempts to restrict women’s access to abortion.

We beat back poison pill riders that sought to politicize VA, and we increased funding for medical and prosthetic research, VA construction programs, and construction grants for state extended care facilities.

I am proud we secured $153 million for major construction funding at the West Haven VA Medical Center for a new surgical and clinical space tower, as well as for renovation and demolition projects.

Furthermore, we boosted funding for the Veterans Benefits Administration as a direct result of the PACT Act to support the more than one million claims coming in and almost 900,000 total PACT Act claims approved.

Looking at the President’s request for 2025, I am pleased to see funding to expand childcare benefits, provide for clinical equipment needs, and boost capacity among women’s health personnel.

More women are choosing VA for their health care than ever before, and the population of women veterans is the fastest growing demographic within VA. We must ensure the Department is equipped to address the need for a trained primary care as well as gynecology and obstetrics workforce.

I am also glad to see last month’s announcement that VA will make millions of veterans eligible for health care years earlier than required by the PACT Act by opening enrollment to veterans exposed to toxins or other hazards during their military service.

Serving in our nation’s armed forces is a selfless and patriotic decision to defend America's freedom, and we must do everything we can to ensure that retired servicemembers are given the dignity, respect, and support they deserve – and I thank you for all that you and the VA workforce do toward those ends. I look forward to discussing in this hearing what we can do to support VA in its mission of serving America’s heroes.

Thank you, and I yield back.