Topeka ? A proposed state budget approved Thursday by the House contains no money for an agency that oversees services for veterans because some members are frustrated with its top administrator.

The House passed three bills that include $13.4 billion in spending for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The biggest bill, containing the bulk of the spending, passed 69-53. Another bill, revising the current budget, passed 71-51, and the third, funding capital improvement projects, passed 87-35.

The Senate plans to debate its own proposed budget next week. But budget issues won’t be settled until the end of legislators’ session in early May.

Veterans’ groups and legislators anticipate that House members eventually will relent and lawmakers will restore most or all of the $22 million Gov. Kathleen Sebelius proposed giving the Commission on Veterans Affairs. But it’s rare for a chamber to “zero out” an agency’s budget temporarily.

Legislators involved directly in the decision said they have heard complaints about how the commission has administered programs, without being much more specific.

But George Webb, the commission’s executive director, also opposed a policy on handling veterans’ claims that House members universally supported. He also has been at odds with the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Webb resigned last week, effective Nov. 30. In a letter to the commission, he called serving as executive director a “grueling enterprise” and said it was “not for the faint-hearted.”

“Unfortunately, what often appears crystal clear to me in the realm of right and wrong just doesn’t come out that way when politics come into play,” he wrote in his letter, obtained by The Associated Press from a legislator.

Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said it’s not clear why the commission has been singled out.

Senate budget committee chairman Dwayne Umbarger said some senators have questions about the commission’s operations. But he attributed some frustration among veterans’ groups to feeling “always on the back table” in budget discussions.

“And I think they take a lot of their aggression out on Mr. Webb,” said Umbarger, a Thayer Republican.

Sebelius proposed increasing the commission’s operating budget by 5.3 percent, or more than $1 million, during the next fiscal year, expanding it to about $20.8 million. She also proposed $1.2 million for capital improvements.

“We’re talking about the basic operating funds needed to help Kansas veterans and their families,” Corcoran said. “We hope the Legislature joins the governor in making our veterans a priority.”

A House budget subcommittee removed the entire amount, without giving an explanation in the standard written report to the entire committee.

Subcommittee chairman Bob Bethell, an Alden Republican, said its members had questions about staffing decisions and how the commission was using its dollars.

“We do not under any circumstances intend to do away with the commission, or to do away with services,” Bethell said. “We want to better the services for our veterans.”

Webb wasn’t available for comment Thursday, and questions about the budget were referred to Jack Fowler, the commission’s chairman, a retired Army colonel. He did not return a telephone message.

But the House’s action on the budget came after what appears to be several years of conflict between Webb, the VFW and the Legion on a policy.

“It’s just constant,” said Ken Stodgell, the state VFW’s legislative director.

The issue is how the state handles claims from veterans to the federal government for cash aid and medical services. For decades, members of the VFW and Legion served as advocates while veterans dealt with federal agencies. They were paid as commission employees, and also compensated by their groups.

In September 2005, the state ethics commission said the arrangement violated conflict-of-interest laws. Legislators set up a $250,000 grant program so the VFW and Legion could continue their work.

The issue is whether commission employees can take on the same role. In 2007, legislators enacted a law – which passed unanimously in the House – saying they couldn’t. Webb testified against the proposal.