The Senate and House Budget committees marked-up their FY2009 Budget Resolutions on March 6, 2008. These annual budget resolutions are a non-binding measure that set annual spending limits for the government. They essentially establish guidelines for the follow-on FY2009 Defense Authorization and Appropriations bills.
Both measures expressed support for rejecting the administration's TRICARE fee increases for retirees under age 65. But rejecting those increases is contingent on finding funding offsets that don't increase the deficit. So at this point, we have to consider the Resolutions a statement of intent rather than a done deal.
The Budget Resolutions also cover the FY2009 funding covering Veterans.
VA fee hikes also were nixed for the fifth year in a row. Both chambers' Budget Resolutions replace the funding cut by the president's budget in anticipation that Congress would not approve higher VA health fees. This allows the Veterans’ Affairs committees the funding "headroom" to reject the proposed VA enrollment fees for lowest priority veterans and pharmacy copay increases.
In addition to rejecting the VA fees, each Budget Resolution provided an additional $3.2 billion more for veterans' programs than requested in the Administration's 2009 budget submission. The additional funding is intended to help improve veterans' disability compensation claims processing and health care, including enhancements in mental health, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and Traumatic Brain Injury treatment.