text: SECTION 1. 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 such services can only be 
          provided to the extent that appropriated resources and 
          facilities are available for such purposes.
              (2) For 19 out of the past 21 fiscal years, Congress has 
          not appropriated funds for medical care provided by the 
          Department of Veterans Affairs before the commencement of the 
          new fiscal year, causing the Department great challenges in 
          planning and managing health care for enrolled veterans, to the 
          detriment of those veterans.
              (3) The cumulative effects of insufficient, late and 
          unpredictable health care funding endanger the viability of the 
          system and the specialized health care resources the Department 
          has developed to maintain and improve the health of the 
          Nation's sick and disabled veterans.
              (4) Approved appropriation levels for the health care 
          programs of the Department have too often proven insufficient 
          over the past decade, requiring the Secretary of Veterans 
          Affairs to ration health care services and Congress to approve 
          supplemental appropriations.
              (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 care in the Department of Veterans 
          Affairs health care system have ready access to timely, quality 
          services.
              (6) Providing sufficient, timely, and predictable funding 
          to the veterans health care system would eliminate year-to-year 
          uncertainty on funding levels that has prevented the Department 
          of Veterans Affairs from being able to adequately plan for and 
          meet the needs of veterans who are enrolled in the Department 
          health care system.
  
  SEC. 2. 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 2010, 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 first available after the 
  end of such fiscal year for the subsequent 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 Administration.
              ``(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. 3. 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, or its equivalent, 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 
          2010, 2011, and 2012, 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 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: Requires, beginning with FY2010, a two-fiscal-year budget authority for the following accounts of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA): (1) Medical Services; (2) Medical Administration; and (3) Medical Facilities.
  
  Requires the Comptroller General to conduct a study on the adequacy and accuracy of VA baseline model projections for health care expenditures.
feat_title: To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide two-fiscal year budget authority for certain medical care accounts of the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.