House appropriators slash VA's IT budget increases

The House Appropriations Committee has cut $383 million from the Veterans Affairs Department's fiscal 2006 IT budget request.

Lawmakers stripped $300 million from the HealtheVet Hospital Computing System, leaving $11 million for feasibility planning for the system.

The $1.07 billion request was $385.7 million more than last year, so basically Congress is eliminating the administration's increase request.

The committee also cut $40 million for the VistA legacy hospital system, which HealtheVet is expected to modernize. Lawmakers also shaved $30 million from the CoreFLS project and VA's computing infrastructure.

"The requested increase, most of it tied to one project, has not been adequately justified in the budget or in responses to questions asked during the budget hearing earlier this year," the committee said in its report.