For Immediate Release – September 2, 2026
$27 Billion and Counting: Budzinski Demands Answers from VA Admin on Exploding Oracle Costs
WASHINGTON, DC— Today, Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski (IL-13) pressed U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence during a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on the VA’s plans to give Oracle an additional $17 billion for the Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) program. Budzinski, who has been overseeing the VA’s EHRM program as Ranking Member of the Technology Modernization Subcommittee, questioned the growing cost of the Department’s contract with Oracle — and what it means for veterans, taxpayers, and working families. Budzinski voted with her colleagues to subpoena Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, to come before the committee and speak to these concerns.
The VA’s contract ceiling with Oracle has grown by $17.6 billion on top of the original $10 billion agreement signed in 2018 — bringing the total to over $27 billion. This does not account for the additional $439 million paid to Accenture or ongoing sustainment and infrastructure costs shouldered separately by the VA.
“This is a program that was promised to Congress in 2022 as on-time and on-budget. That didn’t happen,” said Budzinski. “It makes no sense that this Administration wants to provide billions more for Oracle, without any clear success, while cutting billions from SNAP and Medicaid. Taxpayers should not have to shoulder billions more for one of the richest companies in the world, while they are struggling to make ends meet in this economy. We have to get this program under control and that’s why I voted to subpoena Larry Ellison to come before the committee and answer these basic questions.”
Budzinski noted that Oracle reported record fiscal year 2026 revenue of $67.4 billion, up 17 percent, even as the company has cited “unanticipated complexities” to justify repeated cost increases on the VA contract.
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