As the linked Bloomberg article documents, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to increase the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) budget to $157.8 billion. This represents a $13 billion increase from the VA’s current budget. Included in this increase is authorization to hire ninety-four (94) new employees to help address the well-documented backlog in VA disability and pension claims.
While money alone can’t solve all the problems associated with adjudicating veterans’ claims, I’m confident that the increased funding is much appreciated by the agency and veterans alike. For those interested, the text of H.R. 2216 can be accessed at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d113:HR02216.