The Department of Veterans Affairs improperly spent or lost roughly $3.5 billion in fiscal 2022 across several programs it is required by law to track to improve management of department outlays.
The VA Office of Inspector General reported Monday that the department simply could not account for $1.4 billion in spending, while the remaining amount was made up of non-monetary losses that “cannot be recovered” or were the result of unknown or unexplained payments.
The amount is significantly lower than the $11.37 billion in losses reported in fiscal 2020 and also down from $5.12 billion in fiscal 2021. Nonetheless, the inspector general noted, the $1.4 billion in completely unaccounted spending remains significantly higher than the amount that fell under that category in 2020, $892 million.
Read Next: Senators Look to Extend Visa Program as Thousands of Afghan Allies Wait
Programs that saw the biggest increases in losses or misspent funds from last fiscal year included veterans pensions and long-term services and support, accounting for nearly $1.7 billion of the total, according to the report.
The OIG review comes amid increased congressional scrutiny of VA spending following record increases in the department's budget over the past decade, as well as additional boosts received during the past three years, including COVID-19 emergency pandemic funding.
As of last week with passage of the debt ceiling agreement vote, the VA…
