Letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Requesting Additional Funds for the Department of Veterans Affairs

Dear Mr. Speaker:

I ask the Congress to consider expeditiously the enclosed fully offset FY 2006 request for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to address the security of personal information of veterans and service personnel.

I am requesting these additional resources for VA to cover the increased costs to the VA information technology account in FY 2006 as a result of providing credit monitoring and fraud watch services for veterans and service members impacted by a security breach that occurred on May 3, 2006. The total cost of this effort, estimated to be $160.5 million in FY 2006, is fully offset.

The details of these proposals are set forth in the enclosed letter from the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Sincerely,

GEORGE W. BUSH