The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides a range of benefits and services to veterans and eligible dependents who meet certain criteria as authorized by law. These benefits include medical care, disability compensation and pensions, education, vocational rehabilitation and employment services, assistance to homeless veterans, home loan guarantees, administration of life insurance as well as traumatic injury protection insurance for servicemembers, and death benefits that cover burial expenses. The VA carries out its programs nationwide through three administrations and the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA). The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is responsible for, among other things, providing compensation, pensions, education assistance, and vocational rehabilitation and employment services. The National Cemetery Administration (NCA) is responsible for maintaining national veterans' cemeteries; providing grants to states for establishing, expanding, or improving state veterans' cemeteries; and providing headstones and markers for the graves of eligible persons, among other things. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is responsible for health care services and medical and prosthetic research programs. The VHA is primarily a direct service provider of primary care, specialized care, and related medical and social support services to veterans through the nation's largest integrated health care system. Inpatient and outpatient care are also provided in the private sector to eligible dependents of veterans under the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Department of Veterans Affairs (CHAMPVA). The VA budget includes both mandatory and discretionary funding. Mandatory accounts fund disability compensation, pensions, vocational rehabilitation and employment, education, life insurance, housing, and burial benefits (such as graveliners, outer burial receptacles, and headstones), among other benefits and services. Discretionary accounts fund medical care, medical research, construction programs, information technology, the Office of Inspector General, the Board of Veterans Appeals (BVA), and general operating expenses, among other things. These accounts are further supplemented by revolving funds, such as the Canteen Service Revolving Fund and the Pershing Hall Revolving Fund; trust funds, such as the Department of Veterans Affairs Cemetery Gift Fund and the General Post Fund; and special funds, such as the Medical Care Collections Fund, and the Capital Asset Fund. In 2009, Congress enacted the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009 ( P.L. 111-81 ), authorizing advance appropriations for three of the four VHA accounts: medical services, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities. In 2014, Congress passed the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 ( H.R. 83 ; P.L. 113-235 ), which amended 38 U.S.C §117 and included three more accounts in the advance appropriations list of accounts. This act authorizes advance appropriations for three mandatory VA benefits programs within the Veterans Benefits Administration: compensation and pensions, readjustment benefits, and veterans insurance and indemnities. Beginning with the FY2016 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (MILCON- VA; P.L. 114-113 ), those accounts received advance appropriations for FY2017 in addition to the three VHA accounts already authorized to receive advance appropriations. Section 4003 of the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 ( P.L. 114-41 ) required the establishment of a separate new account for medical community care, beginning with the FY2017 appropriations cycle. The FY2017 MILCON-VA Act (Division A of P.L. 114-223 ) provides advance appropriations for FY2018 to the new medical community care account while funding the FY2017 requirements for this new account by rescinding from the 2017 advance appropriation amounts in the medical services account enacted in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 ( P.L. 114-113 ) and reappropriating them. Congress has authorized advance appropriations of new budget authority for these VBA and VHA accounts to prevent potential delays in the delivery of care and benefits to veterans that may arise in the event of a lapse in funding. Under present budget scoring guidelines, advance appropriations are scored as new budget authority in the fiscal year in which the funds become available for obligation, not in the fiscal year the appropriations are enacted. Therefore, throughout the funding tables in this report, advance appropriations numbers are shown under the label "memorandum" and in the corresponding fiscal year column. For example, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 ( P.L. 114-113 ), provides advance appropriations for the compensation and pensions, readjustment benefits, veterans insurance and indemnities, medical services, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities accounts for FY2017. Funding shown for FY2016 does not include advance appropriations provided in FY2017 by P.L. 114-113 for use in FY2017. Instead, the advance appropriation provided in FY2016 for use in FY2017 is shown in the FY2017 column under the label "memorandum." Similarly, FY2018 advance appropriations provided in the Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act ( H.R. 5325 ; P.L. 114-223 ) appear in the FY2018 column under the label "memorandum." In response to the crisis of access to medical care at many VA hospitals and clinics across the country reported in 2014, Congress passed the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 ( P.L. 113-146 as amended by P.L. 113-175 , P.L. 113-235 , P.L. 114-19 , P.L. 114-41 , and P.L. 115-26 ). On August 7, 2014, President Obama signed the bill into law. The act, as amended, makes a number of changes to programs and policies of the VHA that aim to increase access and lower wait times for veterans who seek care at VA facilities. Among other things, the act establishes a new program (the Veterans Choice Program) that would allow the VA to authorize care for veterans outside the VA health care system if they meet certain criteria. Congress also provided mandatory funding for the Choice Program, with a total of $10 billion over three years by establishing the Veterans Choice Fund (Section 802 (a) of P.L. 113-146 as amended). Since it was estimated that not all the funds in the Veterans Choice Fund would be exhausted by August 7, 2017, on April 19, 2017, President Trump signed into law P.L. 115-26 (an act to amend the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to modify the termination date for the Veterans Choice Program, and for other purposes) and eliminated the sunset date of the Veterans Choice Program and allowed any unobligated funds in the Veterans Choice Fund to be used until expended. However, in mid-June 2017, VA notified Congress that due to the increased authorization of appointments, there had been higher rate of usage of VCP funds and VCP would not be able to continue past August 15, 2017, since all the remaining funds for VCP would be fully obligated by then. According to the VA, at least $3.5 billion in new mandatory budget authority would be needed to continue VCP through FY2018. On August 12, 2017, President Trump signed into law the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 ( P.L. 115-46 ), which authorized and appropriated $2.1 billion for the Veterans Choice Fund (§802 (a) P.L.113-146; 38 U.S.C.§1701 note). These funds would remain available until expended. In addition, Section 801(a) of the Choice Act (P.L.113-146; 38 U.S.C.§1701 note), provided an additional mandatory funding of $5 billion to increase veterans' access to health care by hiring more physicians and staff and to improve VA's physical infrastructure. These mandatory funds are not part of the regular annual appropriations provided in the Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act ( H.R. 5325 ; P.L. 114-223 ) and the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs—Additional Appropriations Act, 2017 (Division L of P.L. 115-31 ). Therefore, the Veterans Choice Fund is beyond the scope of this report, and those funds are not shown in the tables of this report. The President's FY2017 budget request for the Department of Veterans Affairs was submitted to Congress on February 9, 2016. The President's FY2017 VA request is approximately $177.54 billion. This amount, which includes $102.53 billion in mandatory funding and $75.01 billion in discretionary appropriations ( Table 1 ), is a 9.14% increase over the FY2016-enacted level of $162.67 billion. For the Veterans Benefits Administration mandatory programs such as disability compensation, readjustment benefits, and veterans insurance and indemnities, the FY2017 request is $102.73 billion. This amount includes $16.60 million over the FY2017 advance appropriations (provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016; P.L. 114-113 ) for the veterans insurance and indemnities programs ( Table 2 ). For the Veterans Health Administration, the Administration's FY2017 request is $65.66 billion, without collections ( Table 2 ). This amount is a 6.30% increase over the FY2016-enacted amount of $61.76 billion, and includes an additional $1.72 billion over the FY2017 advance appropriations (provided in the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015; P.L. 113-235 ) for the three medical care accounts (medical services, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities).