A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to provide advance appropriations authority for certain accounts of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

Summary: Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 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.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Health Care Budget Reform 
and Transparency Act of 2009''.
SEC. 2. PRESIDENT'S BUDGET SUBMISSION.
    Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, is amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
        ``(36) information on estimates of appropriations for the 
    fiscal year following the fiscal year for which the budget is 
    submitted for the following medical care accounts of the Veterans 
    Health Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs account:
            ``(A) Medical Services.
            ``(B) Medical Support and Compliance.
            ``(C) Medical Facilities.''.
SEC. 3. ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS FOR CERTAIN MEDICAL CARE ACCOUNTS OF THE 
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
    (a) In General.--Chapter 1 of title 38, United States Code, is 
amended by inserting after section 116 the following new section:
``Sec. 117. Advance appropriations for certain medical care accounts
    ``(a) In General.--For each fiscal year, beginning with fiscal year 
2011, discretionary new budget authority provided in an appropriations 
Act for the medical care accounts of the Department shall--
        ``(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.
    ``(b) Estimates Required.--The Secretary shall include in documents 
submitted to Congress in support of the President's budget submitted 
pursuant to section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, detailed 
estimates of the funds necessary for the medical care accounts of the 
Department for the fiscal year following the fiscal year for which the 
budget is submitted.
    ``(c) Medical Care Accounts.--For purposes of this section, the 
term `medical care accounts of the Department' means the following 
medical care accounts of the Veterans Health Administration, Department 
of Veterans Affairs account:
        ``(1) Medical Services.
        ``(2) Medical Support and Compliance.
        ``(3) Medical Facilities.
    ``(d) Annual Report.--Not later than July 31 of each year, the 
Secretary shall submit to Congress an annual report on the sufficiency 
of the Department's resources for the next fiscal year beginning after 
the date of the submittal of the report for the provision of medical 
care. Such report shall also include estimates of the workload and 
demand data for that fiscal year.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections at the beginning of 
such chapter is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
113 the following new line:

``117. Advance appropriations for certain medical care accounts.''.
SEC. 4. COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEW OF THE ACCURACY OF VA MEDICAL CARE 
BUDGET SUBMISSION IN RELATION TO BASELINE HEALTH CARE MODEL PROJECTION.
    (a) Review of Accuracy of Medical Care Budget Submission.--The 
Comptroller General shall conduct a review of each budget of the 
President for a fiscal year that is submitted to Congress pursuant to 
section 1105(a) of title 31 in order to assess whether or not the 
relevant components of the amounts requested in such budget for such 
fiscal year for the medical care accounts of the Department of Veterans 
Affairs specified in section 117(c) of title 38, United States Code, as 
added by section 3, are consistent with estimates of the resources 
required by the Department for the provision of medical care and 
services in such fiscal year, as forecast using the Enrollee Health 
Care Projection Model, or other methodologies used by the Department.
    (b) Reports.--
        (1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after the date of each 
    year in 2011, 2012, and 2013, on which the President submits the 
    budget request for the next fiscal year under section 1105 of title 
    31, United States Code, the Comptroller General shall submit to the 
    Committees on Veterans' Affairs, Appropriations, and the Budget of 
    the Senate and the Committees on Veterans' Affairs, Appropriations, 
    and the Budget of the House of Representatives and to the Secretary 
    a report on the review conducted under subsection (a).
        (2) Elements.--Each report under this paragraph shall include, 
    for the fiscal year beginning in the year in which such report is 
    submitted, the following:
            (A) An assessment of the review conducted under subsection 
        (a).
            (B) The basis for such assessment.
            (C) Such additional information as the Comptroller General 
        determines appropriate.
        (3) Availability to the public.--Each report submitted under 
    this subsection shall also be made available to the public.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.