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Union Calendar No. 87 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1016 

[Report No. 111–171] 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide advance appropriations 

authority for certain medical care accounts of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2009 

Mr. FILNER (for himself, Mr. MICHAUD, Ms. HERSETH SANDLIN, Mr. MITCHELL, Mr. HALL of New York, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. WALZ, Mr. HARE, 

Mrs. TAUSCHER, Mr. HODES, and Mr. SESTAK) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

JUNE 19, 2009 

Additional sponsors: Mr. TEAGUE, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK of Arizona, Mr. JONES, 

Mr. LOEBSACK, Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. ADLER of New Jersey, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. BOSWELL, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. 

PLATTS, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. 

TERRY, Mr. HOLT, Ms. KOSMAS, Mr. ELLSWORTH, Mr. GORDON of Tennessee, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, 

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. SCHAUER, Mr. 

WELCH, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. WEXLER, Mrs. DAHLKEMPER, Ms. HIRONO, 

Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, Ms. BERKLEY, Mr. JACKSON of 

Illinois, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. BOREN, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. TIM

MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. BRALEY of 

Iowa, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. MORAN of Kansas, Ms. PINGREE of 

Maine, Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey, Mr. HIGGINS, Ms. WATSON, Mr. 

SPACE, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. ALTMIRE, Ms. TITUS, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. NYE, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. TIAHRT, 

Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, Mr. PETERS, Mr. DOYLE, Mr. BOCCIERI, Mr. 

GUTIERREZ, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. 

ROSS, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. KISSELL, Mr. 

SABLAN, Ms. MARKEY of Colorado, Mr. MAFFEI, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. 

PATRICK J. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. PASTOR of Arizona, Mr. DONVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:19 Jun 19, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1016.RH H1016

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NELLY of Indiana, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. KING of New York, 

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. BILBRAY, Mr. MCINTYRE, 

Mr. TONKO, Mr. MCMAHON, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. COSTELLO, Ms. 

SCHWARTZ, Mr. POLIS of Colorado, Mrs. HALVORSON, Mr. 

LATOURETTE, Ms. JENKINS, Mr. LEE of New York, Mrs. BLACKBURN, 

Mr. MEEK of Florida, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. SIRES, Mr. 

GALLEGLY, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. CARNEY, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. 

PETERSON, Mr. GRIFFITH, Ms. TSONGAS, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. POE of 

Texas, Mr. SNYDER, Mr. PERRIELLO, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, 

Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. ISRAEL, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New 

York, and Mr. MASSA

JUNE 19, 2009 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee of the Whole House 

on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on February 12, 2009] 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide advance 

appropriations authority for certain medical care 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that the provision of health 

8 care services to veterans could be more effectively and effi9 ciently planned and managed if funding was provided for 


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1 the management and provision of such services in the form 

2 of advance appropriations. 

3 SEC. 3. PRESIDENTS’ BUDGET SUBMISSIONS. 

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

5 amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(36) information on estimates of appropriations 

7 for the fiscal year following the fiscal year for which 

8 the budget is submitted for the following accounts of 

9 the Department of Veterans Affairs: 

10 ‘‘(A) Medical Services. 

11 ‘‘(B) Medical Support and Compliance. 

12 ‘‘(C) Medical Facilities. 

13 ‘‘(D) Information Technology Systems. 

14 ‘‘(E) Medical and Prosthetic Research.’’. 

15 SEC. 4. ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS FOR CERTAIN AC16 COUNTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

17 AFFAIRS. 

18 (a) ADVANCE APPROPRIATIONS FOR CERTAIN AC19 COUNTS.— 

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

21 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 116 

22 the following new section: 

23 ‘‘§ 117. Advance appropriations for certain accounts 

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

25 with fiscal year 2011, discretionary new budget authority 


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1 provided in an appropriations Act for the appropriations 

2 accounts of the Department specified in subsection (c) 

3 shall— 

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

5 ‘‘(2) include, for each such appropriations ac6 count, advance discretionary new budget authority 

7 that first becomes available for the first fiscal year 

8 after the budget year. 

9 ‘‘(b) ESTIMATES REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall in10 clude in documents submitted to Congress in support of the 

11 President’s budget submitted pursuant to section 1105 of 

12 title 31, United States Code, detailed estimates of the funds 

13 necessary for the accounts of the Department specified in 

14 subsection (c) for the fiscal year following the fiscal year 

15 for which the budget is submitted. 

16 ‘‘(c) ACCOUNTS SPECIFIED.—The accounts specified in 

17 this subsection are the following accounts of the Department 

18 of Veterans Affairs: 

19 ‘‘(1) Medical Services. 

20 ‘‘(2) Medical Support and Compliance. 

21 ‘‘(3) Medical Facilities. 

22 ‘‘(4) Information Technology Systems. 

23 ‘‘(5) Medical and Prosthetic Research. 

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

25 year, the Secretary shall submit to Congress an annual reVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:19 Jun 19, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H1016.RH H1016

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1 port on the sufficiency of the Department’s resources for the 

2 next fiscal year beginning after the date of the submittal 

3 of the report for the provision of medical care. Such report 

4 shall also include estimates of the workload and demand 

5 data for that fiscal year.’’. 

6 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec7 tions at the beginning of such chapter is amended by 

8 inserting after the item relating to section 116 the fol9 lowing new item: 

‘‘117. Advance appropriations for certain accounts.’’. 

10 SEC. 5. COMPTROLLER GENERAL STUDY ON ADEQUACY 

11 AND ACCURACY OF BASELINE MODEL PRO12 JECTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VET13 ERANS AFFAIRS FOR HEALTH CARE EXPENDI14 TURES. 

15 (a) STUDY OF ADEQUACY AND ACCURACY OF BASE

16 LINE MODEL PROJECTIONS.—The Comptroller General 

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

18 budget projections made by the Enrollee Health Care Pro19 jection Model (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Model’’), 

20 its equivalent, or other methodologies utilized for the pur21 pose of estimating and projecting health care expenditures 

22 of the Department of Veterans Affairs with respect to the 

23 fiscal year involved and the subsequent four fiscal years. 

24 (b) REPORTS.— 


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

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

3 President submits the budget request for the next fis4 cal year under section 1105 of title 31, United States 

5 Code, the Comptroller General shall submit to the ap6 propriate committees of Congress and to the Secretary 

7 of Veterans Affairs a report. 

8 (2) ELEMENTS.—Each report under this para9 graph shall include, for the fiscal year concerning the 

10 year for which the budget is submitted, the following: 

11 (A) A statement whether the amount re12 quested in the budget of the President for expend13 itures of the Department for health care in such 

14 fiscal year is consistent with anticipated expend15 itures of the Department for health care in such 

16 fiscal year as determined utilizing the Model. 

17 (B) The basis for such statement. 

18 (C) Such additional information as the 

19 Comptroller General determines appropriate. 

20 (3) AVAILABILITY TO THE PUBLIC.—Each report 

21 submitted under this subsection shall be made avail22 able to the public by the Comptroller General. 

23 (4) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS

24 DEFINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘appropriate 

25 committees of Congress’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, 

2 Appropriations, and the Budget of the Senate; 

3 and 

4 (B) the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, 

5 Appropriations, and the Budget of the House of 

6 Representatives. 

7 SEC. 6. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

8 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 

9 of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall submit 

10 to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, Appropriations, 

11 and the Budget of the Senate and House of Representatives 

12 a report on the requirements of this Act and the amend13 ments made by this Act. Such report shall include— 

14 (1) the Secretary’s plans for improving the capa15 bility of the Department of Veterans Affairs to better 

16 and more accurately estimate future health care costs 

17 and demands; and 

18 (2) a description of impediments, statutory or 

19 otherwise, to providing future year estimates and ad20 vance appropriations for the Medical Services, Med21 ical Support and Compliance, Medical Facilities, In22 formation Technology Systems, and Medical and 

23 Prosthetic Research accounts of the Department. 

Amend the title so as to read: ‘‘A bill to amend title 

38, United States Code, to provide advance appropriaVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:19 Jun 19, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1016.RH H1016

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tions authority for certain accounts of the Department of 

Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.’’. 


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Union Calendar No. 87 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1016 

[Report No. 111–171] 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide 

erans Affairs, and for other purposes. medical care accounts of the Department of Vetadvance appropriations authority for certain 

JUNE 19, 2009 

Reported with amendments, committed to the Committee 

dered to be printed of the Whole House on the State of the Union, and orVerDate Nov 24 2008 21:19 Jun 19, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6651 Sfmt 6651 E:\BILLS\H1016.RH H1016

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