Republicans Introduce Partisan Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Funding Bill that Fails Our Veterans

Funding Proposal Would Hurt Military Readiness, Worsen Quality of Life for Servicemembers and their Families, and Further Limit Women's Access to Abortion

WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee Republicans released the 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill which will be considered in the subcommittee tomorrow. The legislation fails to meet veterans' needs fully and falls short of adequately funding military construction projects.

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.

"Republicans are propelling our nation toward more continuing resolutions, perpetual shutdown threats and overall fiscal chaos. And this proposed fiscal year 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill typifies that threat. This bill shortchanges military construction to the detriment of our military readiness, recruitment, and retention, and guts climate resilience investments that will put national security in long-term jeopardy," Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-25) said. "It's also riddled with poison pill riders that would take away reproductive rights and restrict LGBTQ+ and diverse servicemembers and workforces – all of which suppresses freedom and opportunities for the very people who protect ours. Republicans need to be honest brokers and increase nondefense and defense funding levels by at least one percent, just as we agreed to mere months ago. Short of that, the problems of higher costs and infringement of freedoms that veterans and working families face now, will only get worse."

"We must ensure our veterans, servicemembers, and their families have the support they need and have earned through their immeasurable sacrifices. This bill falls short of honoring that commitment and would worsen the quality of life and safety of servicemembers and their families and disarm our military in the face of the climate crisis," Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said. "This bill is built on a foundation that threatens to leave thousands of veterans without food, job training, and shelter. As Republicans double down on cutting the programs hardworking veterans and their families depend on, they threaten the food security of the 1.2 million veterans who rely on food stamps. When they propose to cut the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the tens of thousands of veterans who rely on Housing Choice Vouchers will be put at risk. With the introduction of this first 2025 funding bill, House Republicans have shown us they plan to follow the same misguided, chaotic, and harmful process they pursued last year. By filling this bill with harmful policy changes, it is clear they are once again more focused on rolling back women's rights and catering to the most extreme members of their party than actually helping our veterans."

A summary of House Republicans' 2025 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill is here. A fact sheet of the bill is here. The full text of the bill is here. The subcommittee markup will be webcast live and linked on the House Committee on Appropriations website.

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