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WASHINGTON, Jan. 18—Facing an increasing number of wounded veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, President Bush released $3.7 billion in additional funding for Veterans Administration hospitals, making the total amount appropriated—$6.6 billion—the largest single funding increase in the 77-year history of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Bush wrote a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D, on Thursday, releasing the money and saying that while he believed the funds should have been made part of the regular process, "the men and women who have sacrificed for our country should not be held hostage to budgetary wrangling in Washington."

The speaker agreed.

"Today, America's veterans will finally receive the resources and benefits that they have earned and that they deserve," Pelosi said in a statement. "On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. And with this national investment, we fulfill our pledge that when they return home, we leave no veteran behind."

The $3.7 billion, the product of a budgetary sleight of hand worthy of former Office of Management and Budget director David Stockman's "magic asterisk," was contained in the omnibus spending bill Congress passed at the end of last year. But the "asterisk" attached said that the money could not be spent until Bush transmitted a separate letter agreeing to the amount, which exceeded his budgetary targets for the year. (Stockman, President Ronald Reagan's first budget director, proposed $40 billion in budget cuts but refused to identify them, a tactic dubbed the "magic asterisk".)

The extra funding was also spurred by news reports of sordid conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and by the numbers of veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan needing care.

Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, chairman of the House Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, told the AARP Bulletin that Congress added more than $1 billion in the fiscal 2008 budget specifically dedicated to renovation of medical facilities "so that we don't ever treat any veterans like they were treated at Walter Reed Annex 18."

News reports last February documented the rotting infrastructure at buildings on the Walter Reed campus and bureaucratic tangles that left many vets uncared for. Pelosi made increasing funding for veterans' programs one of her top issues for the 110th Congress, and Edwards said she accomplished what she set out to do. "Nancy Pelosi told veterans' organizations we would make veterans a top priority, and she came through with it," he said.

"Congress and the President put aside their partisan differences by recognizing and acting on the health care need of veterans," said John Rother, AARP Director of Public Policy. "As we look to solve national problems, like skyrocketing health care costs and ensuring economic security, this action in the face of overwhelming need provides a ray of hope that progress is possible."

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, told the AP the emergency funds were needed because the budget proposed by the president would have underfunded the Veterans Affairs Department at a time when there was a need to expand mental health care, improve treatment for traumatic brain injuries and reverse a claims backlog.

In addition to the $6.6 billion included in the omnibus spending bill, Congress this year approved $3.4 billion for veterans in the fiscal 2007 continuing resolution and $1.8 billion in the fiscal 2007 emergency supplemental appropriations bill.