WASHINGTON—The House of Representatives unanimously approved a measure considered crucial for funding health care for many American veterans, casting the vote just before most lawmakers left the Capitol for a lengthy recess.
House members on Friday voted 414-0 to temporarily extend funding for the Veterans Choice program, which allows veterans to more easily get health-care services in the private sector if they aren’t readily available at Department of Veterans Affairs facilities. However, the bill is considered a stopgap measure, as the funding shortfall likely will arise again just after the new year.
“We applaud the House of Representatives today for passing legislation that would not only continue the Choice program uninterrupted, but also make critically-needed investments in the VA health care system,” a coalition of major veterans groups said in a statement Friday. Some of the groups included in the coalition called for the defeat of a previous version of the legislation a week ago.
Lawmakers already have negotiated the language of the bill passed by the House with Senate counterparts, making it likely to be approved by the Senate—which isn’t on recess—and sent to the White House to be signed into law, proponents said.
The House plan provides about $2 billion for stopgap funding for the Veterans Choice program, first established in 2014 in the wake of a wait-time scandal that saw top VA officials resign and exposed a lack of appointment capacity at VA-run hospitals and clinics. The program is set to run out of funding by Aug. 15. Many lawmakers and veterans groups believed the funding measure was a must-pass bill before the House left for recess on Friday.
An earlier version of the legislation was defeated on the House floor Monday following the veterans advocates’ criticism. The rest of the week was spent in negotiations, with a deadline of Friday afternoon before the House recess.
As late as Thursday afternoon, key stakeholders had yet to agree on the measure, according to people familiar with the discussions. But, by Thursday night, a deal had been worked out that provided funding for the Veterans Choice program, along with money for the VA to lease more than two-dozen facilities and funds for recruiting and retaining VA employees.
