The House advanced a $3 billion veterans supplemental funding bill on Tuesday in the middle of a government shutdown battle as Republican leadership works to pass a continuing resolution facing significant GOP opposition.
The veterans bill, spearheaded by Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA), passed through a procedural vote that didn’t require the full House to be present. The legislation comes after the Department of Veterans Affairs warned Congress it was about $3 billion short in funding that it needed for the current fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.
The VA warned that failure to pass a bill for additional funds by Sept. 20 could mean a loss in benefits for nearly 7 billion veterans.
Garcia’s bill includes a mandate that the VA would issue a report on the funding shortage to Congress and include future accountability guidelines to make sure funding is managed properly. The VA secretary would also need to report to lawmakers on any future changes to the budget estimates.
The supplemental’s passage comes as GOP appropriators and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) work to find a path forward on a continuing resolution before funding expires at midnight on Oct. 1. Republican leadership had to pull a six-month CR, combined with the SAVE Act, ahead of its floor vote last week when it was all but assured the legislation would fail with nearly all Democrats and a handful of GOP lawmakers against it.
Johnson announced on Tuesday that the six-month CR would make an appearance on the House floor on Wednesday. Several hard-line Republicans, despite being in favor of attaching the SAVE Act, argue the CR does not cut spending enough and are still opposed to the deal.
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Garcia told Fox News Digital that his supplemental bill and the overall government spending deal were on parallel tracks, but he was concerned the CR would derail his measure.
“Because this turns into a pumpkin on Sept. 20, we don’t really have time to tie this to a CR package. And I would suggest to leadership, which I have, that we shouldn’t use our veterans as political leverage for other legislative initiatives,” he told the outlet.
