Last Congress, veterans across America lost an incredible advocate with the retirement of Congressman Lane Evans. Having worked for Lane, I know how important the issue of veterans’ healthcare funding is to the generations of servicemen and women who have fought for our freedom abroad only to come home and fight for the care they have been promised. As a member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I was proud to carry on Lane’s legacy by introducing H.R. 2514, Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act of 2007.

This bill would assure funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system by making it a

Phil at a Press Conference on the Assured Funding bill

mandatory spending item based on the number of veterans served, not the arbitrary amount set by Congress each year. This landmark legislation would help avoid budget shortfalls and provide real resources to meet real needs.

Congress has contributed to the bureaucratic quagmire during the past decade by repeatedly failing to pass the VA's spending bills on time. As unbelievable as it may seem, the VA ran out of healthcare money and had to request emergency funds to cover a $2 billion shortfall in 2006, and $1 billion for 2005 just to keep existing programs operating. The message being sent to our veterans is: pay more, wait longer and receive less care.

The chasm between demand for health services and funding to support the VA’s capacity to provide needed care is widely acknowledged. The President’s own 2003 Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery for Our Nation’s Veterans found that, “…the only effective way to address the growing problem of access in the VA is to reduce the mismatch [between demand for access and available funding].” One solution proffered by the task force to address this “mismatch” was mandatory funding for VA health care. This bill implements that recommendation.

The four largest U.S. veterans’ service organizations that make up the Independent Budget—AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States—have identified assured funding as their top legislative priority and endorse this bill.

Click here for the status and cosponsors of H.R. 2514

Phil's Press Release: Assured Funding–Not Annual Budgets–Best Way to Care for Our Veterans

Additional information on H.R. 2514 from the Disabled American Veterans (DAV)