Week 11 Assignment 6

Evaluation of the Agency’s Budgeting and Cumulative Report

Lauren Riley

Dr. Angela Smith

Public Administration Capstone

March 7, 2020

VA’s Budgeting

This assignment seeks to establish a profound analysis and assessment of the Veterans Affairs budgeting. After a review of the budget and all pertinent details provided, the paper provides recommendations on what needs to be improved. This will be achieved first by evaluating the budget of the VA using the format discussed: The paper will first identify if the VA budget is an independent body or an executive department. It will then determine the relevant subcommittees that have jurisdictions over every budget request by the VA. The paper will then assess where the different operations of VA fall under the operational classification of the federal state budget. Ultimately, the paper will reveal outlays and the budget authority for the VA in the FY2012.

The VA is a state-operated veteran benefit system that is bestowed at a cabinet-level status. The VA budget has an extensive disparity in terms of the amount requested for its annual budget every year (Rugen et al. 2015). The large disparity in the budget request is due to several factors, not excluding the number of clients that the VA requires to service, upgrade their facilities every year, the number of workforces that VA employs, which approximately stands at 300000 and the advantages that clients of the VA need.

Budget Overview

Originally, the VA was an independent body; currently, the VA is categorized as a United States executive department. The major sub-committees that own jurisdiction over the annual federal budget of the VA are the House Appropriations Subcommittee, which has the power to reduce the budget proposed by the president to the VA (Office of Budget, 2015). There is a general rule that The House Appropriation Subcommittee has the power to analyze the proposed budget and send it back to the president. Subcommittees, for example, VA, Military Construction, and other associated agencies supervised by Thad Cochran as the chairperson, also have discretionary ability to influence alterations in the budget that proposed by the president (Veteran Subcommittee, 2015). This can be achieved while simultaneously committing to its vision statement derived from the chairperson, Thad Cochran. He also holds discretionary power to influence changes in the Art. 1, Sec. 9 of the American Constitution, which decrees there will be no money withdrawn from the treasury, however in consequence of Appropriations established by the law.

The federal budget is categorized into approximately twenty distinct classifications. These classifications are identified as federal budget functions. Every class of these functions entails all expenditures for its perspective title, notwithstanding any federal body that monitors the specific federal actions. The resolution budget of both the president and the Congress, submitted every year, is comprised of all the twenty distinct categories (Office of Budget, 2015). Veteran Services and Benefits are categorized in their unique function known as Function 700. This function addresses the programs devised for the VA such as medical care for veterans, pension and compensations, education benefits, rehabilitation benefits, and housing schemes. Function 700 entails the American Battle Monuments Commission, the U.S Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, and the Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service. Approximately 90% of all allocated funding for Function 700 is channeled towards the healthcare of veterans (Office of Budget, 2015). The overall VA budget authority for FY2012 stood at $139,011,765. If the budget is broken down further to each of the distinct programs under Function 700, the outcome is that the total budget channeled to the General Administration Department is about $424,176, while the National Cemetery Administration’s budget was $260.4 million for its functions and about 2000 hours of a full-time equivalent.

Budgeting Assessment

Though the budget assessment is for FY2012, for a better assessment of the budget, the assessment focuses on FY16 that generated a lot of backlash. The magnitude of alterations made from the 2015 budget allocated to the V.A was astonishing. The momentous changes were mainly due to the change of priority seats in the Senate changing from one political party to the other (Veteran Subcommittee, 2015). The overall VA budget in 2015 was $163.9 billion. Though the funding allocated to VA has gone up by about 68% from 2009, the spending coincided with the ending of two wars, infrastructure that urgently requires upgrading in both building upgrades and employees and veterans who came back from Afghanistan and Iraqi wars that were getting incorporated back in the system.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee in April 2016 marked up the proposed FY2016 budget allocated to VA. The VA endured several difficult times that led to the resignation of a U.S Secretary of State, the death of veterans who did not have access to healthcare due to secret lists, inadequate employees in VA, and the appointment of another Secretary Robert McDonald (VA, 2019). The House Appropriations Subcommittee issued budget cuts amounting to a whopping $1.4 billion. Bob McDonald, the VA secretary, vilified the budget cut terming the budget FY2016 as insufficient to operationalize the reforms in the department and outreach programs. Bob McDonald further argued that the budget cut would appeal to the suffering of veterans since only a small amount of the veteran population has access to care (Shane, 2015). The budget cut advocated for $690 million in VA healthcare, $582 million channeled to construction projects, and the cessation of financing certain national cemeteries. Although the cuts never seemed momentous in the large budget scheme, the aftermath of the budget cuts were: 18,000 fewer burial sites allocated to veterans and their families. The removal of funding for medical facilities to incorporate outpatient clinics, rehabilitation center and veteran community assisted living centers. Finally, the medical cut meant that only a few numbers of veterans could get access to VA care, less staffing in VA facilities and delays in medical research.

Analysis of Budgeting Plans and Actual Expenditures

Several factors have an important role in shaping and molding the VA’s budget. Although the Intergovernmental Affairs office was more conspicuous and reactive during the tenure of President Obama, intergovernmental bodies have no primary responsibilities when it comes to VA budgeting (VA, 2019). People who influence the VA’s budget vary from Congress, the President, Veterans service agencies, House Appropriations Subcommittee, VA’s rank to veterans and taxpayers. The budget of the VA is also impacted by the climate situation of the U.S regarding the economic situation of the country, the party that oversees the Executive branch, or in a war that may involve the U.S.

Using recent occurrences as an example of how extensive the VA budget can be influenced by any of the factors mentioned, some of the factors can be discussed. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders endorsed a bill that would have removed the spending cap, which had been initially created in a budget pact passed by both President Obama and Congress. Costing nearly $20 billion, it was supported by both Republicans and Democrats. However, when voting time approached, 41 out of 45 Republicans in Congress cast their ballot against the proposed bill (VA, 2019). Upon possible approval of the bill, it could have seen the addition of 27 novel medical centers to aid the already trained VA healthcare centers. The bill was used by some individuals as a practical game, as some Republicans attempted to include some sanctions against Iran in the bill that was proposed.

Implications of Foreign Policy

Overall, unlike other departments such as the Construction Department, the VA Department is not affected by foreign policies but depends on the factors aforementioned. The great influencers are the president and Congress. For instance, in 2019 President Trump for FY2019 allocated a sum of $198.6 billion to the VA Department. The increase in the budget shows the commitment of the president to ensure veterans get access to high-quality care and quick access to benefits and services. The passing of the budget depends on the relationship between Congress and the president, in addition to the influence of parties. Same to Obama's regime, the future of budget allocation will depend on the president and the relationship between Democrats and Republicans based on the party of the sitting president.

Budget Request and Recommendations

The VA department aims at advocating for a 9.6% increase in its budget allocation for the FY2020. President Trump has shown great commitment to ensuring veterans receive proper medical care. Unlike other Departments where Trump had dismissed budget increments, the VA has continued to receive increased support. To ensure this continues, my recommendations would be for the VA to progressively increase accountability to ensure all the money allocated is accounted for. Both parties of Congress can achieve this through the passing of the Veterans Administration Management Accountability Act, which holds everybody accountable and dismisses individuals implicated in unlawful practices. My second recommendation is for the VA to invest in modernization programs in medical delivery for veterans, the establishment of Digital Health Platforms and creating a new Financial Management System that would lead to an increase in budget allocation for the VA.

Interview Forms

Name of Student		Division
Agency	VA	VA Department	VA
Name of Interviewed Person(s)
Interviewee’s Title		Dates of Interview

Subject	Question Topics
VA Department	The VA Department is in charge of ensuring the welfare of veterans is addressed after they leave combat. Their main duty is to ensure veterans and their families receive quality care. They are in charge of overseeing transformations in the VA.
Welfare of Veterans	The VA Department is dedicated to providing quality healthcare, service, and training to veterans. This can only be achieved by ensuring constant budget allocation to the VA department to improve benefits and services.
Future Plans	To increase budget allocation to VA so that proper medical call care and IT training can be conducted to veterans.
Recommendations	VA needs to improve accountability and invest in modernized technology systems

References

VA. Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs. (2019, September 1). Veterans Affairs. Retrieved from https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=4007 .

Riley, Lauren. (2019). Evaluation of Agency’s Budgeting and Cumulative Report. Unpublished manuscript, Strayer University.

Rugen, K. W., Watts, S. A., Janson, S. L., Angelo, L. A., Nash, M., Zapatka, S. A., ... & Saxe, J. M. (2015). Veteran affairs centers of excellence in primary care education: transforming nurse practitioner education. Nursing Outlook, 62(2), 78-88.

Shane, L. (2015, April 21). VA secretary calls House budget plan too small, harmful. Military Times, pp. 3-4. Springfield. Va.

Veteran Subcommittee. (2015, June 14). Retrieved June 14, 2015, from https://veterans.house.gov/full-committee

Office of Budget. (2015, June 14). Retrieved December 14, 2019, from http://www.va.gov/budget/products.asp