GovTrack’s Bill Summary
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H.R. 1016 (111th): Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009
- Introduced:
- Feb 12, 2009 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
- Sponsor:
- Rep. Bob Filner [D-CA51]
- Status:
- Signed by the President
- Slip Law:
- This bill became Pub.L. 111-81.
The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.
Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
10/22/2009. Directs the President to include in annual budget justification documents submitted to Congress information on estimates of appropriations for the fiscal year following the fiscal year for which the budget is submitted for the following accounts of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA): (1) Medical Services; (2) Medical Support and Compliance; and (3) Medical Facilities. Requires annually for such accounts, beginning with FY2011, discretionary new budget authority to: (1) be made available for that fiscal year; and (2) include, for each such account, advance discretionary new budget authority that first becomes available for the first fiscal year after the budget year.
Directs the VA Secretary to report annually to Congress on the sufficiency of VA resources for the proceeding fiscal year with respect to the provision of medical care, including estimates of the workload and demand data for that fiscal year. Requires the Comptroller General to: (1) annually study the adequacy and accuracy of VA baseline model projections for health care expenditures for that fiscal year; and (2) report study results, during 2011 through 2013, to the congressional veterans, appropriations, and budget committees.
House Republican Conference Summary
The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/1/hr1016.
Background
According to CRS, an advance appropriation means appropriation of new budget authority that becomes available one or more fiscal years beyond the fiscal year for which the appropriations act was passed (that is beyond the budget year). For example, if the following language appeared in an appropriations act for FY2010, it would provide an advance appropriation for FY2011: "For medical services, $30,854,000,000 to become available on October 1, 2010 (the start of the FY2011)." Under the current scoring guidelines, new budget authority for an advance appropriation is scored in the fiscal year in which the funds become available for obligation. In this example, the budget authority would be recorded in FY2011.
Several federal programs are currently funded under an advance appropriation or have been in the past, include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
Summary
H.R. 1016 includes a sense of Congress "that the provision of health care services to veterans could be more effectively and efficiently planned and managed if funding was provided for the management and provision of such services in the form of advance appropriations."
H.R. 1016 would authorize funding for the following Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) programs: Medical Services, Medical Support and Compliance, Medical Facilities, Information Technology Systems, and Medical and Prosthetic Research. Starting in FY 2011, funding would be authorized both for the fiscal year as well as the next fiscal year, a so-called advance appropriation.
The bill requires that the VA conduct a study of the adequacy and accuracy of the budget projections made by the Enrollee Health Care Projection Model with respect to the fiscal year involved, and subsequent years.
Furthermore, the bill would require that the Secretary of the VA submit a report on the requirements of the bill and the amendments made by the bill, including information on the Secretary's plans for improving the capability of the VA to better and more accurately estimate future health care costs and demands, and a description of the impediments, statutory or otherwise, to providing future year estimates and advance appropriations.
Cost
CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost almost $187 billion over the 2010-2014 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues.
House Democratic Caucus Summary
The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.
So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.
We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.
The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:
United States Code
The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)
- Title 31: MONEY AND FINANCE
- Subtitle II: THE BUDGET PROCESS
- Chapter 11: THE BUDGET AND FISCAL, BUDGET, AND PROGRAM INFORMATION
- Section 1105: Budget contents and submission to Congress
- Title 38: VETERANS’ BENEFITS
- Part I: GENERAL PROVISIONS
- Chapter 1: GENERAL
- Section 117: Advance appropriations for certain medical care accounts
Other Citations
- 38 U.S.C. Chapter 1