Don't Ask, and Ye Shall Recieve
By
Bob Brewin
Roger Baker, the chief information officer at the Veterans Affairs Department and <a href=http://whatsbrewin.nextgov.com/2010/02/vas_66_billion_man.php>the $6.6 billion man</a>, will get a few more shekels to spend in fiscal 2011 if the Senate VA committee and the Republicans on the House VA committee get their way in the long budget process.
Roger Baker, the chief information officer at the Veterans Affairs Department and the $6.6 billion man, will get a few more shekels to spend in fiscal 2011 if the Senate VA committee and the Republicans on the House VA committee get their way in the long budget process.
The Senate panel said it was concerned with the flat lining of VA's $3 billion IT budget from 2010 to 201 and added about 1 percent -- or $30 million -- to fiscal 2011 funding to help with unspecified projects in the Veterans Benefits Administration and the Veterans Health Administration.
The committee also said it wanted to see an increase in the VA's Telehealth budget by $40 million, or 23 percent, to $215 million from the $175 million requested.
The Democrat's on the House VA committee believed Baker when he said he did not need any more money in fiscal 2011, but the Republicans said they would like to add another $56.2 million to the IT budget to automate a system used to pay private doctors who treat veterans outside the Veterans medical system and to establish safeguards to prevent unauthorized alterations of medical records.
If all these increases go through, Baker will end up almost a $7 billion man.