Ranking Member Wasserman Schultz Floor Remarks on Veterans Benefits Supplemental

WASHINGTON — Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL-23), Ranking Member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks on the House Floor in support of the Veterans Benefits Continuity and Accountability Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024:

- As Prepared For Delivery -

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 9468. This bill will alleviate a shortfall in the Veterans Benefits Administration by providing $3 billion, ensuring veterans receive the benefits they have rightfully earned.

Without this funding, veterans and survivors payments to over 500,000 individuals scheduled to be delivered on October 1 will be at risk.

This shortfall exists because the PACT Act is working. Ever since it was signed into law, the VA has been hard at work finding veterans in need of care and cutting through the bureaucracy to get them the benefits and medical care they deserve.

There are now a record number of veterans receiving disability or compensation benefits – 6.6 million, up from 6.3 million last year.

And the VA is hard at work processing a record number of claims – exceeding 2 million, on pace to break last year’s record by 30 percent. Veterans are also using GI bill and job training benefits at record rates.

Funding this shortfall will ensure that the VA continues delivering for veterans. However, this bill alone will not address all the pressing funding needs at the VA.

We know that the VA requires more funding to ensure that the PACT Act is fully implemented in the next fiscal year. There is another $12 billion shortfall for fiscal year 2025 in the Veterans Health Administration, also due to increasing demands from the PACT Act.

More veterans are enrolling in VA care – over 412,000 have enrolled in the last 365 days, a 27 percent increase year over year. The VA has also seen a record number of health care appointments – on pace for 127 million in 2024, well exceeding the previous year’s record. The VA’s targeted and aggressive outreach to veterans, ensuring they know about the care and benefits the bipartisan PACT Act made available, is working.

So, although this $3 billion for benefits is critical, I urge my Republican colleagues to also support the $12 billion that is needed for health care in fiscal year 2025 in the Continuing Budget Resolution that goes to March.

As I’ve said, I support this bill before us but I am disappointed that my colleagues across the aisle did not work in a bipartisan manner to draft this legislation. And, it isn’t perfect – there is a reporting requirement that I would have written differently if we were consulted on the language. However, it is critical that we get this funding to our veterans and survivors before funding runs out.

Therefore, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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