On October 9, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki testified before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs regarding the impact of the government shutdown on VA. According to the Secretary, after November 1, mandatory accounts paying veteran’s benefit checks will be exhausted.
The partial government shutdown currently underway has had some impact on VA benefit services; though to this point the Veterans Benefits Administration has still been able to make the payments on time. Shinseki indicated Congress failing to pass a funding bill will result in the suspension of payments to over 3.9 million veterans on November 1. Payments will also stop for over 364,000 survivors and over 1,200 children receiving special benefits, such as children with Spina Bifida born to certain Vietnam and Korean War veterans. Additionally, pension payments will stop for almost 315,000 veterans and over 202,000 surviving spouses and dependents.
This fiscal impasse has already slowed the reduction of the disability claims backlog. The government shutdown resulted in VA discontinuing overtime, slowing its review of benefits claims. VetsFirst believes that the fiscal debate in Congress needs to be solved as soon as possible or more veterans’ lives will be impacted.
The debate over passing a budget through both chambers of Congress is now being joined with talks over the debt limit. Since 1917, the United States has had some sort of limit on debt under law and Congress has raised the debt limit previously. This has avoided a situation where the U.S. Treasury Department “defaults” and is incapable of paying its obligations.
The last legislative agreement on this issue took place in December 2012, when the debt limit was raised to keep the Treasury making payments until October 17, 2013. This deadline is quickly approaching and Congress must act to pass legislation to extend the debt limit or risk the first default in American history. This will be extremely important to monitor as negotiations about the debt limit could possibly include the House and Senate agreeing on a spending bill, which could at a minimum fund the government for a few months; while larger budget issues are resolved between Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress.