House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a fiscal 2026 budget proposal that significantly boosts funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), including a major increase for the program allowing veterans to see private doctors at VA expense.
The proposed $453 billion budget for the VA represents an $83 billion increase over the fiscal year 2025 allocation.
Most of this growth is tied to mandatory spending for medical programs and veterans’ benefit payments. Discretionary funding, which supports medical care and other services, would rise about 4% to $134 billion.
The private care program for veterans, an initiative that allows eligible veterans to receive health care from non-VA doctors and hospitals, with the VA covering the cost, would see a 50% increase under the proposal.
House Republicans are proposing $34 billion for the program for 2026. In comparison, this year’s approved funding for the program is about $22 billion, a decrease from the previous year’s $31 billion.
Additionally, the proposal doubles funding for the VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization effort, aimed at upgrading and unifying the health record system, to $2.5 billion
The VA has seen consistent funding increases for more than two decades. In 2001, the total VA budget stood at $45 billion. It rose to $125 billion by 2011, and in 2023 surpassed $300 billion for the first time.
The House Appropriations Committee is expected to vote on the proposed budget on Thursday.
