{"id":287466,"date":"2026-05-24T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T12:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/?p=287466"},"modified":"2026-05-22T20:07:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T00:07:17","slug":"veterans-affairs-military-new-budget-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/veterans-affairs-military-new-budget-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans and the Military will get an extra $480.9 billion after a new bill passed"},"content":{"rendered":"

On May 15, 2026, the House passed the first spending bill of the year. The vote was 400 to 15. The total: $480.9 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA),<\/strong> military construction, and related agencies.\u00a0This is the MilConVA bill<\/strong>. It funds VA hospitals, barracks, military bases, the American Battle Monuments Commission<\/strong>, and Arlington National Cemetery.<\/p>\n

Representative John Carter (R-Texas), chairman of the subcommittee that drafted the bill, said: \u201cI want every service member and veteran to know this bill has your back.\u201d He also described the vote as \u201ca testament to America\u2019s commitment to care for the men and women who have bravely worn the uniform<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The breakdown every veteran should know<\/h2>\n

The VA<\/strong> is allocated nearly $450 billion for fiscal year 2027. That\u2019s a $488 billion total when including all related accounts.\u00a0Of that amount, $324 billion is mandatory spending. This covers entitlements required by law: healthcare, disability compensation, and pensions<\/strong>. The remaining $137.8 billion is discretionary spending, an increase of about 2% compared to fiscal year 2026.<\/p>\n

The White House had proposed shifting roughly $52 billion<\/strong> from the Toxic Exposures Fund (mandatory)<\/strong> into the discretionary budget. The House committee rejected that proposal.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers expressed concern that moving those funds would undermine the Toxic Exposures Fund, which was created to support veterans affected by burn pits, contaminated water at Camp Lejeune<\/strong>, and other environmental hazards. Keeping the funding as mandatory spending ensures that no veteran loses coverage for service-related illnesses.<\/p>\n

Military construction and a key gun rights provision<\/h2>\n

The bill allocates $19.7 billion for military construction projects, broken down as follows:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • $2.1 billion for the Army<\/li>\n
  • $5.5 billion for the Navy and Marine Corps<\/li>\n
  • $3.7 billion for the Air Force<\/li>\n
  • $3.8 billion for Defense-wide projects<\/li>\n
  • The rest for the National Guard and Reserves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Additionally, the bill includes a significant provision that received little media attention: The VA will stop notifying the Justice Department when a veteran is assigned a fiduciary (someone to manage their finances due to inability to do so themselves). Previously, this notification automatically disqualified the veteran from owning a firearm<\/strong>. The new rule formalizes an earlier VA decision to halt those notifications.<\/p>\n

    What\u2019s missing for the VA and the Senate fight ahead<\/h2>\n

    The Senate must now draft and pass its own version of the MilConVA bill<\/strong>. During hearings on April 30 and May 14, senators generally supported the VA budget levels but emphasized the need for stricter oversight on spending.<\/p>\n

    Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia), ranking member of the Senate MilConVA appropriations subcommittee, called the proposals \u201cimportant investments<\/strong>,\u201d but raised concerns about staffing. He noted that the budget significantly increases funding for privatized care while providing smaller increases for VA-run facilities<\/strong>. Citing the department\u2019s own data, Ossoff stated: \u201cOutcomes for veterans are equal or better for direct VA care compared to outsourced care.\u201d<\/p>\n

    VA Secretary Doug Collins will need to address these concerns during the confirmation process for key officials.<\/p>\n

    How this affects war veterans and what they can do<\/h2>\n

    This budget impacts nearly every aspect of a veteran\u2019s life \u2014 healthcare, disability payments, housing loans, and education benefits<\/strong>. Changes in funding can mean shorter or longer wait times, better staffing, and whether your benefits keep pace with inflation.<\/p>\n

    Important note: The bill keeps the $52 billion for toxic exposure illnesses as mandatory spending. This protects veterans with approved PACT Act<\/strong> claims from interruptions in their benefits. Service-connected disability compensation will also continue to receive its annual cost-of-living adjustment.<\/p>\n

    If you\u2019re a veteran or caregiver, you don\u2019t need to take any action right now<\/strong>. The bill still needs Senate approval and the president’s signature. However, the strong 400-15 House vote suggests the core numbers are likely to survive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    On May 15, 2026, the House passed the first spending bill of the year. The vote was 400 to 15. The total: $480.9 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), military construction, and related agencies.\u00a0This is the MilConVA bill. It funds VA hospitals, barracks, military bases, the American Battle Monuments Commission, and Arlington National […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":287467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[57],"class_list":["post-287466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287468,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287466\/revisions\/287468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/futbolete.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}