text: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
  
      This Act may be cited as the ``Veterans Health Care Budget Reform 
  and Transparency Act of 2009''.
  
  SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
  
      Congress makes the following findings:
              (1) Title 38, United States Code, authorizes the Secretary 
          of Veterans Affairs to furnish hospital and domiciliary care, 
          medical services, nursing home care, and related services to 
          eligible and enrolled veterans, but only to the extent that 
          appropriated resources and facilities are available for such 
          purposes.
              (2) For 19 of the past 22 fiscal years, funds have not been 
          appropriated for the Department of Veterans Affairs for the 
          provision of health care as of the commencement of the new 
          fiscal year, causing the Department great challenges in 
          planning and managing care for enrolled veterans, to the 
          detriment of veterans.
              (3) The cumulative effect of insufficient, late, and 
          unpredictable funding for the Department for health care 
          endangers the viability of the health care system of the 
          Department and impairs the specialized health care resources 
          the Department requires to maintain and improve the health of 
          sick and disabled veterans.
              (4) Appropriations for the health care programs of the 
          Department have too often proven insufficient over the past 
          decade, requiring the Secretary to ration health care and 
          Congress to approve supplemental appropriations for those 
          programs.
              (5) Providing sufficient, timely, and predictable funding 
          would ensure the Government meets its obligation to provide 
          health care to sick and disabled veterans and ensure that all 
          veterans enrolled for health care through the Department have 
          ready access to timely and high quality care.
              (6) Providing sufficient, timely, and predictable funding 
          would allow the Department to properly plan for and meet the 
          needs of veterans.
  
  SEC. 3. TWO-FISCAL YEAR BUDGET AUTHORITY FOR CERTAIN MEDICAL CARE 
                ACCOUNTS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.
  
      (a) Two-fiscal Year Budget Authority.--
              (1) In general.--Chapter 1 of title 38, United States Code, 
          is amended by inserting after section 113 the following new 
          section:
  ``Sec. 113A. Two-fiscal year budget authority for certain medical care 
                accounts
      ``(a) In General.--Beginning with fiscal year 2011, new 
  discretionary budget authority provided in an appropriations Act for 
  the appropriations accounts of the Department specified in subsection 
  (b) shall be made available for the fiscal year involved, and shall 
  include new discretionary budget authority for such appropriations 
  accounts that first become available for the first fiscal year after 
  such fiscal year.
      ``(b) Medical Care Accounts.--The medical care accounts of the 
  Department specified in this subsection are the medical care accounts 
  of the Veterans Health Administration as follows:
              ``(1) Medical Services.
              ``(2) Medical Support and Compliance.
              ``(3) Medical Facilities.''.
              (2) Clerical amendment.--The table of sections at the 
          beginning of chapter 1 of such title is amended by inserting 
          after the item relating to section 113 the following new item:
  
  ``113A. Two-fiscal year budget authority for certain medical care 
                              accounts.''.
  
  SEC. 4. COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES STUDY ON ADEQUACY AND 
                ACCURACY OF BASELINE MODEL PROJECTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT 
                OF VETERANS AFFAIRS FOR HEALTH CARE EXPENDITURES.
  
      (a) Study of Adequacy and Accuracy of Baseline Model Projections.--
  The Comptroller General of the United States shall conduct a study of 
  the adequacy and accuracy of the budget projections made by the 
  Enrollee Health Care Projection Model, its equivalent, or other 
  methodologies, as utilized for the purpose of estimating and projecting 
  health care expenditures of the Department of Veterans Affairs (in this 
  section referred to as the ``Model'') with respect to the fiscal year 
  involved and the subsequent four fiscal years.
      (b) Reports.--
              (1) In general.--Not later than the date of each year in 
          2011, 2012, and 2013, on which the President submits the budget 
          request for the next fiscal year under section 1105 of title 
          31, United States Code, the Comptroller General shall submit to 
          the appropriate committees of Congress and to the Secretary a 
          report.
              (2) Elements.--Each report under this paragraph shall 
          include, for the fiscal year beginning in the year in which 
          such report is submitted, the following:
                      (A) A statement whether the amount requested in the 
                  budget of the President for expenditures of the 
                  Department for health care in such fiscal year is 
                  consistent with anticipated expenditures of the 
                  Department for health care in such fiscal year as 
                  determined utilizing the Model.
                      (B) The basis for such statement.
                      (C) Such additional information as the Comptroller 
                  General determines appropriate.
              (3) Availability to the public.--Each report submitted 
          under this subsection shall also be made available to the 
          public.
              (4) Appropriate committees of congress defined.--In this 
          subsection, the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' 
          means--
                      (A) the Committees on Veterans' Affairs, 
                  Appropriations, and the Budget of the Senate; and
                      (B) the Committees on Veterans' Affairs, 
                  Appropriations, and the Budget of the House of 
                  Representatives.
target: Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009 - Requires, beginning with FY2011, a two-fiscal-year new discretionary budget authority for the following accounts of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA): (1) Medical Services; (2) Medical Support and Compliance; and (3) Medical Facilities.
  
  Requires the Comptroller General to: (1) conduct a study on the adequacy and accuracy of VA baseline model projections for health care expenditures; and (2) report during 2011-2013 to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the congressional veterans, appropriations, and budget committees on the sufficiency of budget requests for VA health expenditures in relation to the baseline model projections.
feat_title: A bill to amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize advance appropriations for certain medical care accounts of the Department of Veterans Affairs by providing two-fiscal year budget authority, and for other purposes.