20. Department of Veterans Affairs · Minor
Have the VBA make the case for a larger share of VA IT funding
Printed page 650 20. Department of Veterans Affairs
“Traditionally, VHA captures the large majority of VA IT funding. The VBA needs to make the case for a larger IT budget with clear requirements to support that request.”
What has happened
- Not started
The case was not made, and the share went down. In VA's FY2027 IT submission the Benefits Services portfolio is $585.4 million against a total IT request of about $7.9 billion, and it falls 1.4% below the 2026 enacted level while the department's IT topline rises — Mission Delivery +0.5%, Mission Support +14.6%, Standard IT Investments +0.7%. The Health and Social Services portfolio remains the large majority the Quote describes. The submission argues for particular investments inside the benefits portfolio (Disability Compensation +6.5%, Benefits Claims Processing +4.5%) and pays for them by cutting Education by 53.9% and Housing by 14.3% — a case for reallocation within VBA's existing share, not for a larger one. §3b's symmetric budget rule puts a line the Budget does not itself present as an expansion at `not-started`, with the number recorded.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Leveled together with #1792 from the same FY2027 tables; see that item for the Toxic Exposures Fund view, which reallocates $228.1 million toward Benefits Services inside an overall $329.0 million TEF reduction and does not change the direction of the share.
- H.R. 9237 §401 would authorize appropriations to VA’s Office of Information and Technology for certain purposes, but the bill has not passed: proceedings were postponed on the House floor on 2026-07-16.
- Action
- expand
- Object
- VBA share of VA IT funding
- ID
- 1793