Hudson Supports Funding for our Nation's Veterans

Hudson Supports Funding for our Nation's Veterans

WASHINGTON – U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (NC-08) released the following statement after voting in favor of the Fiscal Year 2014 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill which provides funding for veterans and maintaining military infrastructure while finding commonsense savings. The bill passed the House on a vote of 421-4 yesterday evening and heads to the U.S. Senate for consideration.

“One of the most important duties I have as a Congressman is to ensure our nation’s warfighters and veterans have every resource they need. I am proud to support this critical piece of legislation which provides our warfighter with the infrastructure needed to house, train and equip military personnel and supports the quality of life for our troops and their families. This bill fully funds all of the VA’s requests in order to ensure that we resolve the backlog crisis and keep our commitment to helping all who have served this great nation.”

The bill:

Supports our troops with strong military infrastructure

• Funds military construction at $9.9B ($646M below FY13) – making smart reductions without affecting readiness or effectiveness

Cares for Our Veterans

• Provides $63.1B to ensure our veterans have the services and care they have earned for their dedication and sacrifice for our country
• Supports medical treatment for 6.5 million patients – including funding for traumatic brain injury treatment; suicide prevention; mental health care; and rural health initiatives
• Deals with VA’s biggest problems:

o Coordinated DoD-VA electronic health record system: $344M to jumpstart this effort and help ensure that troops and veterans have seamless, quality health care access

o Disability claims processing backlog: $155M for a paperless claims process system, and $136M for digital scanning of health records

• Includes advance appropriations for VA medical programs: $55.6B, the same level provided in the House-passed Budget, to guarantee our veterans have consistent, full access to medical needs

Keeps our military in fighting for a high quality of life

• Family housing
• Medical facilities
• Guard/Reserve facilities
• Education facilities

Enforces Rigorous Congressional Oversight

• Troops and veterans deserve the best from the government they fought to protect – which means not only adequate funding for their quality of life, but also efficient, thoughtful use of that funding
• Increases oversight of taxpayer dollars at the VA

o Requires reports on construction expenditures and savings

o Forbids new changes in the scope of construction projects

o Restricts the VA from taking certain spending actions without notifying Congress

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