The Department of Veterans Affairs is requesting $488.2 billion for fiscal year 2027

Original article can be found here.

(The Center Square) – The Department of Veterans Affairs is requesting $488.2 billion for fiscal year 2027, a 7.7 percent increase over current levels, as Secretary Doug Collins defended a budget that boosts private care funding by 17 percent while cutting the VA’s internal watchdog and appeals board staffing at a Senate appropriations hearing.

Collins told senators the budget is built on results, not expansion, citing a 70 percent reduction in the disability claims backlog, a record 51,936 homeless veterans permanently housed in fiscal year 2025, and a successful electronic health records rollout in Michigan that previous administrations had left stalled for years.

“For too long, this Department measured success by how much money it spent and how many people it employed – not by how well it served veterans,” Collins told the Senate committee.

He also said that the VA “is not a Federal jobs program, but in the past, it acted like one.”

2. Collins’ reform case — Backlog down 70% to 77,000; 51,936 homeless veterans housed; 125,000 new enrollees in 2026; Michigan EHR rollout

3. Direct care vs. community care — Brief explainer: direct care is VA doctors and facilities, community care is private providers paid by VA; community care up 17%, direct care up 2%; MISSION Act context; Ossoff’s privatization concern

4. Staffing dispute — Ossoff’s claim at hearing; VA’s on-record rebuttal (354 more doctors, 1,115 more nurses when mandatory funding included); OIG severe shortage findings; physician pay gap; Ossoff response TK

5. Budget cuts + VSO benchmark — OIG down $12M and 46 FTE; Board of Veterans’ Appeals down $12M and 137 FTE; DAV/VFW Independent Budget recommended higher operational funding than administration requested

6. Close — PACT Act mandatory spending driving bulk of growth; VA funding up 58% since 2023