Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough warned lawmakers that a move to cap the agency's budget at fiscal 2022 levels could hurt the agency's telehealth and cybersecurity programs, Fedscoop reported March 29.
If proposals to cap the budget succeed, the VA could see a $345 million shortfall within its office of information technology and a $465 million shortfall in infrastructure and technology funding.
"I'm told the office of [information] and technology would have a $345 million shortfall … which would have a significant impact on network reliability, which is increasingly what we use for a 3,000 percent increase in use of telehealth, so it would have an impact there," Mr. McDonough said at a VA budget hearing March 29.