Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz Statement at the Subcommittee Markup of the 2027 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Bill

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-25), Ranking Member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's markup of the 2027 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Bill:

- As Prepared for Delivery -

Thank you, Chairman Carter, for yielding and thank you for our work together again this year for our veterans, servicemembers, and their families. I appreciate your continued partnership to maintain the bi-partisan tradition of this subcommittee. 

And thank you Chairman Cole and Ranking Member DeLauro for your leadership on the full committee. Chairman Carter – I believe that the bill you’ve put together is the best you could have done, given your inadequate allocation and the pressures you face from your corner. It’s not the bill I would have written, but given the tentative allocation, I would have needed to craft something similar, barring a few notable disagreements.

In terms of funding, the bill makes many necessary investments, but it also fails to fully fund some important programs. For military construction, while the bill cuts $9.4 billion from the President’s request, it includes $50 million in funding to address PFAS remediation efforts.

The bill also provides additional investments in child development centers and barracks, both areas of bipartisan concern. Unfortunately, the bill does not sufficiently fund the NATO security investment program, underfunding it by $122 million below the President’s request. But, it is funded at the same level as last year. VA health care is fully funded, although not as high as what the President requested, it is still sufficient to keep up with growing demand and increasing health care costs. I’m disappointed that the bill does not include $53.7 billion in advance funding for TEF.

I hope we can work this out in full committee as we did last year, but it’s vital that we maintain our commitment to fully funding health care for those exposed to toxic chemicals. This advanced funding is also included in the President’s Budget request.

In terms of language, although this bill does not include the myriad culture war riders from last year, which I appreciate, it still contains several provisions that I oppose. This bill undermines VA’s ability to keep at risk veterans safe by preventing VA from reporting a beneficiary to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. This helps keep guns out of the hands of those who are prohibited under Federal law from purchasing or possessing firearms. This bill is, in effect, prohibiting VA from following the law that is intended to protect veterans from self-harm. Veterans make up about one in five adult firearm suicides, and we see an average of 4,600 veteran firearm suicides every year. It is tragic and unacceptable that this bill undermines our efforts to keep veterans safe.

The bill also includes two unnecessary provisions related to Guantanamo Bay and report text on reproductive health. Although the report text is non-binding, it serves no purpose but to antagonize women veterans and those that support the ability for women to make decisions about their own health care.

This bill was written with the best information available – because the budget was, once again, unacceptably late. And as I speak, the President has still not provided the required justification materials that we need to inform our funding decisions. We also only held two hearings – down from about six, the number we normally hold before we write this bill. We’ve not even heard from the VA Secretary, whose discretionary budget makes up 88 percent of this bill. Mr. Chairman, I know you’re working to get the Secretary scheduled to testify. I have pressed him as well. He simply must come before us to answer our questions about the President’s FY27 budget proposal for VA.

Finally, once again this year I am concerned about the government services veterans rely on outside of the MILCON-VA bill. The President wants $1.5 trillion dollars for the Department of Defense, but he has requested to slash critical programs across the government upon which our veterans rely. I appreciate the hard work Chairman Carter has put into the bill before us and look forward to working with him to strengthen the bill during Tuesday’s full committee markup. I hope to see bi-partisan progress, which can be made during our Full Committee markup process, to improve the bill and address the issues which I have raised.

I look forward to continuing this important work with my colleagues throughout the rest of the Fiscal Year 2027 process.

Thank you, and I yield back.