The Senate on Thursday passed a $3 billion emergency spending bill to cover the shortfall in Department of Veterans Affairs funding for disability and education benefits, reported The Hill.
The legislation, which passed the House on Tuesday night, now goes to the White House for signature.
"Our veterans were there for us. We have to be there for them," Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray, D-Wash., said on the Senate floor. "Congress has a responsibility to ensure these veterans, their family members, and survivors receive the benefits they have earned, on time."
Joshua Jacobs, the undersecretary for benefits for the VA, said during a hearing Wednesday that since the law's implementation, the agency has seen "about 340,000 veterans who now are getting PACT benefits that would not have been eligible, 60,000 of whom have cancer."
The VA in mid-July told lawmakers it expects to be nearly $15 billion short of what it needs to pay for benefits and healthcare this year and next, partly because more veterans are using services than expected.