House appropriators will propose cutting the budgets of most programs covered by the sprawling VA-HUD spending bill, in part to provide more money in FY 2005 for veterans’ health care.

The cuts will enable appropriators to direct more money to veterans and address the needs of an increasingly influential and much courted group of voters. However, this will mean that many agencies and programs, including NASA, EPA and the National Corporation for National and Community Service will have to make do with allocations smaller than their FY 2004 spending budgets.

The Senate will not begin debating its version of the VA-HUD spending bill until after the August recess.

The House VA-HUD appropriators complain that they have not been allocated enough money. They have $92.9 billion to divide among the departments and agencies covered by the bill, or about 2.3 percent more than fiscal year 2004 spending. The VA-HUD bill is certain to be among the most controversial of the 13 fiscal 2005 appropriations bill. It is likely to be bundled into an omnibus package to ease its passage.

Veterans’ health programs already receive the largest allocation in the VA-HUD bill. Republicans recognize that they must compete with election year promises Democrats have made to veterans. The Democrats, for example, have proposed designating veterans’ health care a mandatory, rather than discretionary, expenditure so it will not be subject to the annual competition for a limited pot of discretionary budget authority.

Some members of the House VA-HUD Subcommittee said they are willing to cut spending across the board for most programs in order to commit more money to veterans’ health care.

The other program slated for an increase in the draft spending bill is HUD’s rent voucher program, Section 8. President Bush had proposed cutting the program by $1.1 billion from its FY 2004 appropriation. This proposed cut was part of a proposal to convert the federal program to a block grant to states. However, because lawmakers have not authorized such a conversion, appropriators will not agree to the spending cut.

The EPA’s budget may face a cut of up to 7 percent, mostly by cutting grants to states and Indian tribes for pollution control projects.