House Committee Members Question VA’s Proposed Use of $20 Billion From Toxic Exposure Fund
During its March 23 hearing on the assessment of the Biden administration’s funding proposal for 2024—and advance appropriations request for 2025—members of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs gave particular focus to a $20 billion item in the $325.1 billion 2024 budget.
And they questioned Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough over plans to pull the $20 billion from the fund created as part of the landmark PACT Act passed into law last August which expands benefits and services to veterans exposed to toxins while serving.
A central component of the PACT Act, into which Congress rolled the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund (TEF), is $300 billion in financial benefits….