House Republicans’ MilCon-VA Funding Bill Fails to Meet the Needs of Veterans, Servicemembers, and Their Families

Legislation hurts military readiness, worsens the quality of life for servicemembers and their families, and further limits women’s access to abortion

WASHINGTON — Today, the House passed Republicans’ extreme 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies funding bill, continuing their failed 2024 crusade to decimate the programs Americans depend on in order to line the pockets of billionaires and big corporations. House Democrats proved how this bill – which cuts military construction by $718 million and takes us closer to a national abortion ban – fails to honor our commitment to veterans, servicemembers, and their families. This bill:

• Worsens the quality of life for servicemembers and their families and hurts military readiness by cutting military construction $718 million below last year.
• Further limits women’s access to abortion, harming women veterans’ health.
• Leaves military installations, servicemembers, and their families vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and worsening natural disasters by failing to include dedicated Climate Change and Resilience funding and walking back on investments in Natural Disaster Recovery construction.
• Undermines the ability to keep guns out of the hands of those prohibited under Federal law from purchasing or possessing firearms.
• Repeats the same extreme House Republican tactics attempted in fiscal year 2024 by including partisan changes to existing law, known as “riders,” that hurt Americans and create chaos. Once again, Republicans are disenfranchising veterans rather than making VA a welcoming and inclusive place for all those who volunteer to serve our country. We did not make promises to certain servicemembers in exchange for their service and sacrifice; we made promises to everyone.

“Little that we do in Congress is more critical than caring for our veterans and improving the quality of life of our servicemembers and their families. Yet my Republican colleagues opted to construct a MilCon-VA bill that cuts military construction and climate resiliency that betrays this basic commitment and diminishes America’s national security,” Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-25) said. “Worse, these cuts are part of a broader, deeper array of budget decreases which not only abandon the Fiscal Responsibility Act, but will undoubtedly also harm millions of veterans, servicemembers and their families. Lastly, this bill is riddled with extremist policy riders that further erode women’s reproductive rights and cruelly target LGBTQ+ and other diverse communities. In short, they needlessly take away freedoms from those who fought for ours. I’m very disappointed my Republican colleagues, once again, have turned this traditionally bipartisan package of healthcare, infrastructure, and benefits for our servicemembers and veterans, into a culture war cudgel. Therefore, I could not support today’s bill.”

Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz’s floor remarks as prepared for delivery are here. Watch her remarks here.

“House Republicans 2025 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs funding bill fails our veterans and hurts military readiness,” Appropriations Committee Ranking Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. “It disarms our military in the face of the climate crisis andrecklessly undermines the ability to keep guns out of the hands of those prohibited under Federal law from purchasing or possessing firearms – who could be a harm to themselves or others. It is a shame that Republicans are more interested in passing messaging bills than actually getting this important funding bill signed into law. With minor changes, we could find a reasonable compromise that everyone could support, but Republicans are more focused on limiting women’s access to abortion and filling their funding bills with extreme, harmful policies than working together to guarantee there is not a lapse in funding the programs that hardworking Americans depend on. I hope Republicans will abandon their partisan strategy, and join Democrats at the table to support veterans, servicemembers, and military families. It is time to govern.”

Congresswoman DeLauro’s floor remarks as prepared for delivery are here. Watch her remarks here.

A summary of the bill can be found here. A fact sheet of the bill is here.

The text and accompanying report of the legislation, before action on the House Floor, is available here. Information on Community Project Funding in the bill is here.

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