Senate defeats attempt to sink VA funding bill

The Senate voted 69-30 on Wednesday to table an amendment offered by Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) that would have killed the Veterans Affairs (VA) funding bill. 

Vitter wanted to stop the bill because the Senate has yet to pass a budget for 2012. He argued it makes no sense to move spending measures without a budget framework approved by the Senate. 

"The point this amendment makes is a pretty simple but basic and important one,” said Vitter from the floor on Tuesday. “We don't have a concurrent budget resolution for fiscal year 2012. We're in the process of passing an appropriation bill with this bill, spending money without a budget, without a game plan, without a framework.”

"That's clearly putting the cart before the horse and clearly having things backwards in a dysfunctional process," Vitter said.

Vitter ran into opposition from Democrats and some Republicans. 

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) said Tuesday that Vitter’s objection ought to be waved since the VA funding bill adheres to a budget proposal put forth by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). That plan passed the Republican controlled House but failed in the Senate earlier this year.

"I would put forward that this bill is rather unique because it conforms to the budget," said Kirk. "It conforms to the Paul Ryan budget that passed the House on April 15."

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the Budget Committee, last week launched a similar protest against the legislation. He argued budgetary rules prohibit the Senate from taking up appropriations work without first passing a budget. His point-of-order protest was quashed 56-40.

The legislation in question is H.R. 2055, the Military Construction, and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies appropriations bill. It would increase funding for the VA by 5.8 percent and cut military construction spending by $2.6 billion to reflect anticipated base closures and realignments.