The following are Boozman’s remarks on the Senate floor, lightly edited for clarity and length:

Thank you, Mr./Madam President.

I’m pleased to join Senators Collins and Murray, as well as my Democratic counterpart on the MilCon-VA Subcommittee, Senator Ossoff, in presenting the fiscal years 2026 and 2027 appropriations bills for the Department of Veterans Affairs and for Department of Defense military construction.

It’s important to remember that we followed tradition in crafting the bill in a very open and bipartisan way – so it’s built on a strong foundation and deserves the support of our colleagues.

This bill takes into consideration the needs of our veterans, their families and our servicemembers, and within that framework we have created a thoughtful path forward for both Departments and our Related Agencies.

The bill provides $153.5 billion in discretionary spending.

Of that amount, the Department of Veterans Affairs is provided $133.3 billion in discretionary funding.

When combined with $49.8 billion from the Toxic Exposures Fund, veterans medical care will be funded at a total of $163.6 billion in fiscal year 2026. 

Our bill funds priority accounts to prevent veteran suicide as well as increase rural access to healthcare through significant investments for the Office of Rural Health.

Additionally, we allocate approximately $23 billion to support critical mental health issues and programs, prevent veterans homelessness, and provide funding for innovative medical research.

The bill also funds mandatory veterans benefits – which are earned benefits that include disability pensions, employment training programs and educational benefits.

We also make advance appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for certain accounts, including $122.3 billion for veterans medical care and $262.1 billion for mandatory veterans benefits. 

In addition, we are delivering $19.8 billion to support military construction and family housing needs, which are important to both readiness and morale. 

Our bill would give the Department of Defense the resources it needs to project power globally, enhance our warfighting capabilities, and train our forces. 

Importantly, we provide $1.9 billion to improve housing and quality of life for servicemembers and their families. 

I also want to note that the bill includes robust funding for our related agencies, which include the American Battle Monuments Commission, the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Armed Forces Retirement Home.

Funding these priorities, at these levels, represents solid, bipartisan work to provide the resources necessary for our veterans, their families, and the servicemembers defending our nation, which was evident with the passage of our measure in the Appropriations Committee by a vote of 26-3. 

I want to again thank Senator Ossoff as well as Chair Collins and Vice Chair Murray for their hard work and collaboration. And also a special thanks to our staff that have worked so, so very hard to put an excellent bill together.