Congress has passed a landmark bill to help veterans avoid long waits for health care and fix other problems at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Senate easily approved the $16.3 billion compromise measure Thursday night, a day after it was overwhelmingly passed by the House. The measure now goes to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The bill provides $10 billion in emergency spending to enable veterans who can’t get prompt appointments at VA hospitals and clinics or live more than 40 miles from one of them to obtain care from a private doctor.
The legislation also includes $5 billion to hire more VA doctors, nurses and other medical staff and $1.3 billion for opening 27 new VA clinics across the country.
Voting against the bill Thursday were Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Sessions of Alabama. They said they fear the legislation would swell future budget deficits.
Senators then turned to another urgent matter: legislation to prevent a reduction in federal highway construction funding at the height of the summer construction season.
The Transportation Department set today as the date the Highway Trust Fund will no longer be able to provide all the aid promised, and estimated that states could expect an average reduction of 28 percent unless Congress acted by then.
With time running out, the Senate was expected to pass a House-approved measure making $10.8 billion available, enough to last until next May.
But Congress’ inability to agree on a long-term funding solution has created problems for state transportation departments, which plan their projects years, not months, in advance.
“We’ve got a short-term fix,” said David Parkhurst, staff director and general counsel for the National Governors Association’s Office of Federal Relations, “but the long-term challenges remain.”
And given the broader paralysis in Washington on a whole range of issues, many observers worry that Congress will just run out the clock again.
“My fear is it will still be a politically intractable issue next year,” said James Burnley, transportation secretary during the Reagan administration. “That’s incredibly disruptive to states.”
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