H. R. 933—200 
become available on October 1, 2013, and shall remain available 
until September 30, 2014. 
MEDICAL FACILITIES 
For necessary expenses for the maintenance and operation of 
hospitals, nursing homes, domiciliary facilities, and other necessary 
facilities of the Veterans Health Administration; for administrative 
expenses in support of planning, design, project management, real 
property acquisition and disposition, construction, and renovation 
of any facility under the jurisdiction or for the use of the Depart-
ment; for oversight, engineering, and architectural activities not 
charged to project costs; for repairing, altering, improving, or pro-
viding facilities in the several hospitals and homes under the juris-
diction of the Department, not otherwise provided for, either by 
contract or by the hire of temporary employees and purchase of 
materials; for leases of facilities; and for laundry services, 
$4,872,000,000, plus reimbursements, shall become available on 
October 1, 2013, and shall remain available until September 30, 
2014. 
MEDICAL AND PROSTHETIC RESEARCH 
For necessary expenses in carrying out programs of medical 
and prosthetic research and development as authorized by chapter 
73 of title 38, United States Code, $582,674,000, plus reimburse-
ments, shall remain available until September 30, 2014. 
NATIONAL CEMETERY ADMINISTRATION 
For necessary expenses of the National Cemetery Administra-
tion for operations and maintenance, not otherwise provided for, 
including uniforms or allowances therefor; cemeterial expenses as 
authorized by law; purchase of one passenger motor vehicle for 
use in cemeterial operations; hire of passenger motor vehicles; and 
repair, alteration or improvement of facilities under the jurisdiction 
of the National Cemetery Administration, $258,284,000, of which 
not to exceed $25,828,000 shall remain available until September 
30, 2014: Provided, That none of the funds under this heading 
may be used to expand the Urban Initiative project beyond those 
sites outlined in the fiscal year 2012 or previous budget submissions 
or any other rural strategy, other than the Rural Initiative included 
in the fiscal year 2013 budget submission, until the Secretary 
of Veterans Affairs submits to the Committees on Appropriations 
of both Houses of Congress a strategy to serve the burial needs 
of veterans residing in rural and highly rural areas and that 
strategy has been approved by the Committees: Provided further, 
That the strategy shall include: (1) A review of previous policies 
of the National Cemetery Administration regarding establishment 
of new national cemeteries, including whether the guidelines of 
the Administration for establishing national cemetery annexes 
remain valid; (2) Data identifying the number of and geographic 
areas where rural veterans are not currently served by national 
or existing State cemeteries and identification of areas with the 
largest unserved populations, broken down by veterans residing 
in urban versus rural and highly rural; (3) Identification of the 
number of veterans who reside within the 75-mile radius of a 
cemetery that is limited to cremations or of a State cemetery
H. R. 933—201 
which has residency restrictions, as well as an examination of 
how many communities that fall under a 75-mile radius have an 
actual driving distance greater than 75 miles; (4) Reassessment 
of the gaps in service, factoring in the above conditions that limit 
rural and highly rural veteran burial options; (5) An assessment 
of the adequacy of the policy of the Administration on establishing 
new cemeteries proposed in the fiscal year 2013 budget request; 
(6) Recommendations for an appropriate policy on new national 
cemeteries to serve rural or highly rural areas; (7) Development 
of a national map showing the locations and number of all unserved 
veterans; and (8) A time line for the implementation of such strategy 
and cost estimates for using the strategy to establish new burial 
sites in at least five rural or highly rural locations: Provided further, 
That the Comptroller General of the United States shall review 
the strategy to ensure that it includes the elements listed above: 
Provided further, That this strategy shall be submitted no later 
than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act: Provided 
further, That the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall issue guidelines 
on committal services held at cemeteries under the jurisdiction 
of the National Cemetery Administration to ensure that: (1) vet-
erans’ families may arrange to hold committal services with any 
religious or secular content they desire; (2) the choice by a family 
of an honor guard and the content and presentation of military 
honors may not be interfered with; and (3) attendance at committal 
services by outside organizations dedicated to the support of vet-
erans will not be constrained except at the request of family mem-
bers: Provided further, That the Department shall not edit, control, 
or exercise prior restraints on the content of religious speech and 
expression by speakers at events at veterans national cemeteries 
except as provided in section 2413 of title 38, United States Code: 
Provided further, That actions permitted by the foregoing provisos 
shall be subject to compliance with Department security, safety, 
and law enforcement regulations. 
DEPARTMENTAL ADMINISTRATION 
GENERAL ADMINISTRATION 
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS) 
For necessary operating expenses of the Department of Vet-
erans Affairs, not otherwise provided for, including administrative 
expenses in support of Department-Wide capital planning, manage-
ment and policy activities, uniforms, or allowances therefor; not 
to exceed $25,000 for official reception and representation expenses; 
hire of passenger motor vehicles; and reimbursement of the General 
Services Administration for security guard services, $424,737,000, 
of which not to exceed $20,837,000 shall remain available until 
September 30, 2014: Provided, That the Board of Veterans Appeals 
shall be funded at not less than $86,006,000: Provided further, 
That of the funds made available under this heading, such sums 
as may be necessary shall be available to the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs to comply with the Department’s energy management 
requirements under section 543(f)(7) of the National Energy Con-
servation Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 8253(f)(7)): Provided further, That 
funds provided under this heading may be transferred to ‘‘General 
operating expenses, Veterans Benefits Administration’’.
H. R. 933—202 
GENERAL OPERATING EXPENSES, VETERANS BENEFITS 
ADMINISTRATION 
For necessary operating expenses of the Veterans Benefits 
Administration, not otherwise provided for, including hire of pas-
senger motor vehicles, reimbursement of the General Services 
Administration for security guard services, and reimbursement of 
the Department of Defense for the cost of overseas employee mail, 
$2,164,074,000: Provided, That expenses for services and assistance 
authorized under paragraphs (1), (2), (5), and (11) of section 3104(a) 
of title 38, United States Code, that the Secretary of Veterans 
Affairs determines are necessary to enable entitled veterans: (1) 
to the maximum extent feasible, to become employable and to 
obtain and maintain suitable employment; or (2) to achieve max-
imum independence in daily living, shall be charged to this account: 
Provided further, That of the funds made available under this 
heading, not to exceed $113,000,000 shall remain available until 
September 30, 2014. 
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS 
(INCLUDING TRANSFER OF FUNDS) 
For necessary expenses for information technology systems and 
telecommunications support, including developmental information 
systems and operational information systems; for pay and associated 
costs; and for the capital asset acquisition of information technology 
systems, including management and related contractual costs of 
said acquisitions, including contractual costs associated with oper-
ations authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, 
$3,327,444,000, 
plus 
reimbursements: 
Provided, 
That 
$1,021,000,000 shall be for pay and associated costs, of which not 
to exceed $30,630,000 shall remain available until September 30, 
2014: Provided further, That $1,812,045,000 shall be for operations 
and maintenance, of which not to exceed $126,000,000 shall remain 
available until September 30, 2014: Provided further, That 
$494,399,000 shall be for information technology systems develop-
ment, modernization, and enhancement, and shall remain available 
until September 30, 2014: Provided further, That amounts made 
available for information technology systems development, mod-
ernization, and enhancement may not be obligated or expended 
until the Secretary of Veterans Affairs or the Chief Information 
Officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs submits to the 
Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress a certifi-
cation of the amounts, in parts or in full, to be obligated and 
expended for each development project: Provided further, That 
amounts made available for salaries and expenses, operations and 
maintenance, and information technology systems development, 
modernization, and enhancement may be transferred among the 
three sub-accounts after the Secretary of Veterans Affairs requests 
from the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses of Congress 
the authority to make the transfer and an approval is issued: 
Provided further, That amounts made available for the ‘‘Information 
technology systems’’ account for development, modernization, and 
enhancement may be transferred between projects or to newly 
defined projects: Provided further, That no project may be increased 
or decreased by more than $1,000,000 of cost prior to submitting 
a request to the Committees on Appropriations of both Houses
H. R. 933—203 
of Congress to make the transfer and an approval is issued, or 
absent a response, a period of 30 days has elapsed: Provided further, 
That of the funds provided for information technology systems 
development, modernization, and enhancement for the development 
of a joint Department of Defense—Department of Veterans Affairs 
(DOD–VA) integrated electronic health record (iEHR), not more 
than 25 percent may be obligated until the DOD–VA Interagency 
Program Office submits to the Committees on Appropriations of 
both Houses of Congress, and such Committees approve, a plan 
for expenditure that: (1) defines the budget and cost baseline for 
development of the integrated Electronic Health Record; (2) identi-
fies the deployment timeline for the system for both Agencies; 
(3) breaks out annual and total spending for each Department; 
(4) relays detailed cost-sharing business rules; (5) establishes data 
standardization schedules between the Departments; (6) has been 
submitted to the Government Accountability Office for review; and 
(7) complies with the acquisition rules, requirements, guidelines, 
and systems acquisition management practices of the Federal 
Government: Provided further, That the funds made available under 
this heading for information technology systems development, mod-
ernization, and enhancement, shall be for the projects, and in 
the amounts, specified under this heading in the explanatory state-
ment described in section 4 (in the matter preceding division A 
of this consolidated Act). 
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL 
For necessary expenses of the Office of Inspector General, to 
include information technology, in carrying out the provisions of 
the Inspector General Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.), $115,000,000, 
of which $6,000,000 shall remain available until September 30, 
2014. 
CONSTRUCTION, MAJOR PROJECTS 
For constructing, altering, extending, and improving any of 
the facilities, including parking projects, under the jurisdiction or 
for the use of the Department of Veterans Affairs, or for any 
of the purposes set forth in sections 316, 2404, 2406, and chapter 
81 of title 38, United States Code, not otherwise provided for, 
including 
planning, 
architectural 
and 
engineering 
services, 
construction management services, maintenance or guarantee 
period services costs associated with equipment guarantees provided 
under the project, services of claims analysts, offsite utility and 
storm drainage system construction costs, and site acquisition, 
where the estimated cost of a project is more than the amount 
set forth in section 8104(a)(3)(A) of title 38, United States Code, 
or where funds for a project were made available in a previous 
major project appropriation, $532,470,000, of which $502,470,000 
shall remain available until September 30, 2017, and of which 
$30,000,000 shall remain available until expended: Provided, That 
$5,000,000 shall be to make reimbursements as provided in section 
7108 of title 41, United States Code, for claims paid for contract 
disputes: Provided further, That except for advance planning activi-
ties, including needs assessments which may or may not lead to 
capital investments, and other capital asset management related 
activities, including portfolio development and management activi-
ties, and investment strategy studies funded through the advance