# Is the $150 billion VA budget part of the overall DoD budget of $600 billion?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-150-billion-va-budget-part-of-the-overall-dod-budget-of-600-billion/689120>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 23, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-150-billion-va-budget-part-of-the-overall-dod-budget-of-600-billion/689120 "2014-05-23T18:36:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-150-billion-va-budget-part-of-the-overall-dod-budget-of-600-billion/689120/1 "2014-05-23T18:36:14Z")

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Or is it separate? (rough numbers, obviously)

Defense spending breakdowns are hard to read through.

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-150-billion-va-budget-part-of-the-overall-dod-budget-of-600-billion/689120/2 "2014-05-23T18:39:17Z")

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Short answer: no. They are separate departments with separate budgets.

There are a number of military-related expenses not included in the Department of Defense budget, with the VA being by far the largest.

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**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-150-billion-va-budget-part-of-the-overall-dod-budget-of-600-billion/689120/3 "2014-05-23T18:40:10Z")

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[ul]  
[li]Two separate Departments. [/li][li]Two different budgets.[/li][li]See for yourself about the [proposed FY2015 budget](http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Appendix).[/li][/ul]

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**Author:** ![Linden\_Arden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Linden\_Arden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linden_Arden)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-150-billion-va-budget-part-of-the-overall-dod-budget-of-600-billion/689120/4 "2014-05-23T18:42:47Z")

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Thanks, My dad is a vet and uses Tri-Care which apparently was affected by the sequester and defense cuts.