[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 423 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 423
To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize advance
appropriations for certain medical care accounts of the Department of
Veterans Affairs by providing two-fiscal year budget authority, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 12, 2009
Mr. Akaka (for himself, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Johnson, Mr. Rockefeller, Mr.
Sanders, Mr. Tester, Mr. Begich, Mr. Bingaman, Mrs. Boxer, Mr.
Feingold, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Lautenberg, Mr. Menendez, Ms. Murkowski,
Ms. Stabenow, Mr. Thune, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Schumer, and Mr. Burr)
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize advance
appropriations for certain medical care accounts of the Department of
Veterans Affairs by providing two-fiscal year budget authority, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Health Care Budget Reform
and Transparency Act of 2009''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Title 38, United States Code, authorizes the Secretary
of Veterans Affairs to furnish hospital and domiciliary care,
medical services, nursing home care, and related services to
eligible and enrolled veterans, but only to the extent that
appropriated resources and facilities are available for such
purposes.
(2) For 19 of the past 22 fiscal years, funds have not been
appropriated for the Department of Veterans Affairs for the
provision of health care as of the commencement of the new
fiscal year, causing the Department great challenges in
planning and managing care for enrolled veterans, to the
detriment of veterans.
(3) The cumulative effect of insufficient, late, and
unpredictable funding for the Department for health care
endangers the viability of the health care system of the
Department and impairs the specialized health care resources
the Department requires to maintain and improve the health of
sick and disabled veterans.
(4) Appropriations for the health care programs of the
Department have too often proven insufficient over the past
decade, requiring the Secretary to ration health care and
Congress to approve supplemental appropriations for those
programs.
(5) Providing sufficient, timely, and predictable funding
would ensure the Government meets its obligation to provide
health care to sick and disabled veterans and ensure that all
veterans enrolled for health care through the Department have
ready access to timely and high quality care.
(6) Providing sufficient, timely, and predictable funding
would allow the Department to properly plan for and meet the
needs of veterans.
SEC. 3. TWO-FISCAL YEAR BUDGET AUTHORITY FOR CERTAIN MEDICAL CARE
ACCOUNTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
(a) Two-Fiscal Year Budget Authority.--
(1) In general.--Chapter 1 of title 38, United States Code,
is amended by inserting after section 113 the following new
section:
``Sec. 113A. Two-fiscal year budget authority for certain medical care
accounts
``(a) In General.--Beginning with fiscal year 2011, new
discretionary budget authority provided in an appropriations Act for
the appropriations accounts of the Department specified in subsection
(b) shall be made available for the fiscal year involved, and shall
include new discretionary budget authority for such appropriations
accounts that first become available for the first fiscal year after
such fiscal year.
``(b) Medical Care Accounts.--The medical care accounts of the
Department specified in this subsection are the medical care accounts
of the Veterans Health Administration as follows:
``(1) Medical Services.
``(2) Medical Support and Compliance.
``(3) Medical Facilities.''.
(2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the
beginning of chapter 1 of such title is amended by inserting
after the item relating to section 113 the following new item:
``113A. Two-fiscal year budget authority for certain medical care
accounts.''.
SEC. 4. COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES STUDY ON ADEQUACY AND
ACCURACY OF BASELINE MODEL PROJECTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT
OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FOR HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURES.
(a) Study of Adequacy and Accuracy of Baseline Model Projections.--
The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study of
the adequacy and accuracy of the budget projections made by the
Enrollee Health Care Projection Model, its equivalent, or other
methodologies, as utilized for the purpose of estimating and projecting
health care expenditures of the Department of Veterans Affairs (in this
section referred to as the ``Model'') with respect to the fiscal year
involved and the subsequent four fiscal years.
(b) Reports.--
(1) In general.--Not later than the date of each year in
2011, 2012, and 2013, on which the President submits the budget
request for the next fiscal year under section 1105 of title
31, United States Code, the Comptroller General shall submit to
the appropriate committees of Congress and to the Secretary a
report.
(2) Elements.--Each report under this paragraph shall
include, for the fiscal year beginning in the year in which
such report is submitted, the following:
(A) A statement whether the amount requested in the
budget of the President for expenditures of the
Department for health care in such fiscal year is
consistent with anticipated expenditures of the
Department for health care in such fiscal year as
determined utilizing the Model.
(B) The basis for such statement.
(C) Such additional information as the Comptroller
General determines appropriate.
(3) Availability to the public.--Each report submitted
under this subsection shall also be made available to the
public.
(4) Appropriate committees of congress defined.--In this
subsection, the term ``appropriate committees of Congress''
means--
(A) the Committees on Veterans' Affairs,
Appropriations, and the Budget of the Senate; and
(B) the Committees on Veterans' Affairs,
Appropriations, and the Budget of the House of
Representatives.
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