111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1016 

AN ACT 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Veterans Health Care 

3 Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 It is the sense of Congress that the provision of 

6 health care services to veterans could be more effectively 

7 and efficiently planned and managed if funding was pro8 vided for the management and provision of such services 

9 in the form of advance appropriations. 

10 SEC. 3. PRESIDENTS’ BUDGET SUBMISSIONS. 

11 Section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, is 

12 amended by adding at the end the following new para13 graph: 

14 ‘‘(36) information on estimates of appropria15 tions for the fiscal year following the fiscal year for 

16 which the budget is submitted for the following ac17 counts of the Department of Veterans Affairs: 

18 ‘‘(A) Medical Services. 

19 ‘‘(B) Medical Support and Compliance. 

20 ‘‘(C) Medical Facilities. 

21 ‘‘(D) Information Technology Systems. 

22 ‘‘(E) Medical and Prosthetic Research.’’. 
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1 SEC. 4. ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS FOR CERTAIN AC2 COUNTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

3 AFFAIRS. 

4 (a) ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS FOR CERTAIN AC5 COUNTS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 1 of title 38, United 

7 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 

8 116 the following new section: 

9 ‘‘§ 117. Advance appropriations for certain accounts 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For each fiscal year, beginning 

11 with fiscal year 2011, discretionary new budget authority 

12 provided in an appropriations Act for the appropriations 

13 accounts of the Department specified in subsection (c) 

14 shall— 

15 ‘‘(1) be made available for that fiscal year; and 

16 ‘‘(2) include, for each such appropriations ac17 count, advance discretionary new budget authority 

18 that first becomes available for the first fiscal year 

19 after the budget year. 

20 ‘‘(b) ESTIMATES REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall in21 clude in documents submitted to Congress in support of 

22 the President’s budget submitted pursuant to section 1105 

23 of title 31, United States Code, detailed estimates of the 

24 funds necessary for the accounts of the Department speci25 fied in subsection (c) for the fiscal year following the fiscal 

26 year for which the budget is submitted. 
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1 ‘‘(c) ACCOUNTS SPECIFIED.—The accounts specified 

2 in this subsection are the following accounts of the De3 partment of Veterans Affairs: 

4 ‘‘(1) Medical Services. 

5 ‘‘(2) Medical Support and Compliance. 

6 ‘‘(3) Medical Facilities. 

7 ‘‘(4) Information Technology Systems. 

8 ‘‘(5) Medical and Prosthetic Research. 

9 ‘‘(d) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than July 31 of 

10 each year, the Secretary shall submit to Congress an an11 nual report on the sufficiency of the Department’s re12 sources for the next fiscal year beginning after the date 

13 of the submittal of the report for the provision of medical 

14 care. Such report shall also include estimates of the work15 load and demand data for that fiscal year.’’. 

16 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec17 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended 

18 by inserting after the item relating to section 116 

19 the following new item: 

‘‘117. Advance appropriations for certain accounts.’’. 
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1 SEC. 5. COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY ON ADEQUACY 

2 AND ACCURACY OF BASELINE MODEL PRO3 JECTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VET4 ERANS AFFAIRS FOR HEALTH CARE EXPENDI5 TURES. 

6 (a) STUDY OF ADEQUACY AND ACCURACY OF BASE

7 LINE MODEL PROJECTIONS.—The Comptroller General 

8 shall conduct a study of the adequacy and accuracy of the 

9 budget projections made by the Enrollee Health Care Pro10 jection Model (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Model’’), 

11 its equivalent, or other methodologies utilized for the pur12 pose of estimating and projecting health care expenditures 

13 of the Department of Veterans Affairs with respect to the 

14 fiscal year involved and the subsequent four fiscal years. 

15 (b) REPORTS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the date of 

17 each year in 2011, 2012, and 2013, on which the 

18 President submits the budget request for the next 

19 fiscal year under section 1105 of title 31, United 

20 States Code, the Comptroller General shall submit to 

21 the appropriate committees of Congress and to the 

22 Secretary of Veterans Affairs a report. 

23 (2) ELEMENTS.—Each report under this para24 graph shall include, for the fiscal year concerning 

25 the year for which the budget is submitted, the fol26 lowing: 
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1 (A) A statement whether the amount re2 quested in the budget of the President for ex3 penditures of the Department for health care in 

4 such fiscal year is consistent with anticipated 

5 expenditures of the Department for health care 

6 in such fiscal year as determined utilizing the 

7 Model. 

8 (B) The basis for such statement. 

9 (C) Such additional information as the 

10 Comptroller General determines appropriate. 

11 (3) AVAILABILITY TO THE PUBLIC.—Each re12 port submitted under this subsection shall be made 

13 available to the public by the Comptroller General. 

14 (4) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS

15 DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘appro16 priate committees of Congress’’ means— 

17 (A) the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, 

18 Appropriations, and the Budget of the Senate; 

19 and 

20 (B) the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, 

21 Appropriations, and the Budget of the House of 

22 Representatives. 

23 SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

24 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact25 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall 
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1 submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, Appro2 priations, and the Budget of the Senate and House of 

3 Representatives a report on the requirements of this Act 

4 and the amendments made by this Act. Such report shall 

5 include— 

6 (1) the Secretary’s plans for improving the ca7 pability of the Department of Veterans Affairs to 

8 better and more accurately estimate future health 

9 care costs and demands; and 

10 (2) a description of impediments, statutory or 

11 otherwise, to providing future year estimates and ad12 vance appropriations for the Medical Services, Med13 ical Support and Compliance, Medical Facilities, In14 formation Technology Systems, and Medical and 

15 Prosthetic Research accounts of the Department. 

Passed the House of Representatives June 23, 2009. 

Attest: 

Clerk. 
111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1016 

AN ACT 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide 

and for other purposes. counts of the Department of Veterans Affairs, advance appropriations authority for certain ac-