House Approves $480 Billion Spending Package for VA, Department of Defense

Joe Wallace

The House Appropriations Committee has approved an approximately $480 billion Defense Department/Department of Veterans Affairs spending package for fiscal year 2027. The bill includes what some sources call “record spending” to tackle multiple concerns, including keeping military pay commensurate with inflation.

House Approves $480 Billion Spending Package for VA, Department of Defense

The legislation includes funds to add staff to the Veterans Benefits Administration to help clear a backlog of VA disability claims, funds for women’s healthcare, and funds to modernize military housing.

Known as the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Act (MILCON-VA), this legislation includes the primary budget for the VA and includes (but is not limited to) the following:

• $323 billion for “mandatory programs“
• $138 billion for veterans’ medical care
• $53 billion in “advance funding” for the VA Toxic Exposures Fund
• $19 billion overall for Department of Defense military construction and family housing
• $595 million for construction or alteration of Guard and Reserve facilities
• $2 billion for capital improvements for VA medical facilities and national cemeteries
• $236 million for Substance Use Disorder Programs

This is not the final word on these funds; the Senate must create its own version of the spending bill and reconcile it with the House version before it can move ahead toward becoming law. What you see here is likely to change as the legislation moves through the system.

>> Stay up-to-date on all the latest military and veteran benefits info for you and your family.  Sign up today for the free MyMilitaryBenefits Update newsletter!

What’s in the 2027 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Act

The 2027 act allocates $121 billion for veterans’ medical care, an increase of $6.5 billion above the fiscal year 2026 levels. It also provides approximately $53 billion in advance funding for fiscal year 2028 to the toxic exposure fund established by the PACT Act.

Military infrastructure receives approximately $17 billion under this proposal. This includes a strategic $665 million increase above the initial budget request, to be used for “unfunded priorities” in readiness and quality of life.

Restrictions and Improvements

This version of the bill also prevents the executive branch from moving funds between projects without explicit legislative approval. Whether this feature survives the Senate version remains to be seen at press time.

Barracks improvement projects are funded through the act to help replace aging, substandard housing for single service members. This funding comes in the wake of growing maintenance backlogs, mold issues, and security vulnerabilities.

Other areas of military life are funded via the Act as follows:

• Increased funding for women veterans’ healthcare to $1.4 billion. This expansion covers specialized reproductive health, maternity care, and gender-specific medical equipment at regional clinics.
• This version of the spending bill requires the VA to report medical center vacancy rates to Congress every quarter and demands a full audit of the VA’s troubled electronic health record modernization project, which has suffered delays and communication failures since its launch.
• Under the current version of the bill, the VA must get a court order before contacting the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System to stop a veteran from buying or owning firearms “only because they need help from a fiduciary in managing their VA benefits,” according to VA.gov. This changes a previous policy that denied firearms to some veterans getting care under the VA system.
• The spending bill includes terms to prevent the closure of Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, and to prevent the use of military construction funds to build facilities for detainees in the United States.
• The bill includes $344 million for Rural Health.
• It also includes $77 million for the Armed Forces Retirement Home

What’s Next

At press time, these are proposals only and are subject to further modification in the Senate. While approved by the House, none of the above has been signed into law. This is the House version of the bill; the Senate must pass a reconciled version reconciled to the House version before it can move on to the president’s desk for signature. This is a developing story.

>> Stay up-to-date on all the latest military and veteran benefits info for you and your family.  Sign up today for the free MyMilitaryBenefits Update newsletter.