BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.C.R. 37
By: Van de Putte
Veteran Affairs & Military Installations
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Military veterans who have served
their country honorably and who were promised and have earned health care and
benefits from the federal government through the Department of Veterans Affairs
are now in need of these benefits. Federal discretionary funding is controlled
by the executive branch and the United States Congress through the budget and
appropriations process and direct funding provides the Department of Veterans
Affairs with a reliable, predictable, and consistent source of funding to
provide timely, efficient, and high-quality health care for our veterans. Currently
almost 90 percent of federal health care spending is direct rather than
discretionary, and only the funding for health care for active duty military,
Native Americans, and veterans is subject to the discretion of the United
States Congress. Discretionary funding for health care lags behind both
medical inflation and the increased demand for services; for example, the
enrollment for veterans' health care increased 134 percent between fiscal years
1996 and 2004 yet funding increased only 34 percent during the same period when
adjusted to 1996 dollars.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is the largest integrated health care system
in the United States and has four critical health care missions: to provide
health care to veterans, to educate and train health care personnel, to conduct
medical research, and to serve as a backup to the United States Department of
Defense and support communities in times of crisis. The Department of Veterans
Affairs operates 157 hospitals, with at least one in each of the contiguous states,
Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, and more than 850 ambulatory care
and community-based outpatient clinics, 132 nursing homes, 42 residential
rehabilitation treatment programs, and 88 home care programs.
The Department of Veterans Affairs provides a wide range of specialized services to meet the unique needs of veterans, including spinal cord injury and dysfunction care and rehabilitation, blind rehabilitation, traumatic brain injury care, post-traumatic stress disorder treatment, amputee care and prosthetics programs, mental health and substance abuse programs, and long-term care programs. The Department of Veterans Affairs health care system is severely underfunded, and had funding for the department's medical programs been allowed to grow proportionately as the system sought to admit newly eligible veterans following the eligibility reform legislation in 1996, the current veterans' health care budget would be approximately $10 billion more. In a spirit of bipartisan accommodation, members of the United States Congress should collectively resolve the problem of discretionary funding and jointly fashion an acceptable formula for funding the medical programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
RESOLVED
That the 80th Legislature of the State of Texas hereby express its profound
gratitude for the sacrifices made by veterans, including those who suffer from
medical or mental health problems resulting from injuries that occurred while
serving in the United States Armed Forces at home or abroad.
That the legislature respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to support legislation for veterans' health care budget reform to allow assured
funding.
That the Texas secretary of state forward official copies of this resolution to
the secretary of veterans affairs, to the president of the United States, to
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate of
the United States Congress, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to
the congress with the request that this resolution be officially entered in the
Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United States of
America.