Wichita Standard

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran has expressed concern over recent budgetary revelations from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). As the ranking member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Sen. Moran addressed issues surrounding the VA's financial management for fiscal year 2024.

The VA recently disclosed that supplemental funding allocated to the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) was unnecessary, contradicting earlier claims of a budget shortfall. Additionally, an anticipated deficit for the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) did not materialize.

Sen. Moran stated, "VA has a sacred duty to care for veterans and a responsibility to faithfully use the resources entrusted to the department by Congress. For a second time this year, VA has miscounted billions of dollars and found that, despite telling Congress that the department was on the verge of running out of funds for veterans’ benefits, it in fact had a surplus of funds for FY2024."

He further highlighted discrepancies in VHA spending: "VA further reported that VHA spending for FY2024 is not $3 billion over budget as they previously claimed." Despite these findings, Sen. Moran noted that "VA insists it will need as much as $12 billion in additional funding for VHA in 2025," questioning how this need arose amid prior accounting errors.

In September, after being alerted by the VA about a projected $2.9 billion shortfall, Congress approved supplemental funding to safeguard veterans' benefits.