Budget

The Biden-Harris Administration released the President’s Budget for fiscal year 2025. This budget proposes critical resources to help VA continue providing more care and more benefits to more Veterans than ever before.

Chairman Tester, Ranking Member Moran, and distinguished Members of the Committee—thank you. VA will be strengthened by this Committee’s work. I attach great importance to our relationship, and I pledge to each of you my candor and transparency.

While the President’s Budget details a plan to honor our country’s sacred obligation to care for America’s Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors, the proposal to cut a broad range of critical programs by 22% would threaten critical services for Veterans – both at VA and across the federal government.

This is the largest budget proposal in U.S. history for Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors. The total FY 2024 request for VA is $325.1 billion, a $16.6 billion (+5.4%) increase above the FY 2023 budget enacted level. This includes a discretionary budget request of $142.8 billion, a $3.0 billion (+2.1%) increase over FY 2023. The 2024 mandatory funding request is $182.3 billion, an increase of $13.6 billion (+8.1%) above 2023.

The Biden-Harris administration submitted to Congress the president’s budget for fiscal year 2023. This budget delivers critical resources to help VA serve Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors as well as they have served our country — and it will allow VA to continue providing more care, more services, and more benefits to more Veterans than any time in its history.

We’ve lost so many of the Vets we serve, the colleagues we work with, and the family and friends we love. And we’re still not out of the woods after two long years of the pandemic. But the reality is that—because times have been hard—this is the moment when Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors need us most. I know DAV has risen to that challenge—driving hundreds of thousands of Vets to VA hospitals for free during the pandemic and helping Vets and their families file 150,000 new claims last year alone.