Congressional Republicans continue to screw veterans

[jqpublic]

What a great bunch of guys!

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050629/1004869.asp
Wounded rising, but VA funding is blocked
By DOUGLAS TURNER
News Washington Bureau Chief
6/29/2005
   WASHINGTON - The Bush administration acknowledged Tuesday that it must treat more than four times the estimated number of war wounded, just hours after the House Republican leadership killed a measure to increase funding for their care.

Veterans Affairs Secretary R. James Nicholson told a House appropriations subcommittee Tuesday that it earlier estimated that it would need to care for 23,553 wounded soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That tally has been revised upward to 103,000, leaving a funding gap of $2.6 billion that Congress needs to close for the 2006 fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

However, the House Rules Committee, in a party-line vote Monday night, blocked a Democratic amendment that would have provided $1 billion in special funding for this fiscal year.

Rep. Louise M. Slaughter of Fairport, ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee, said, "Of all the places to pinch pennies, the health care our veterans rely on shouldn't be one of them.

"Standing up for our veterans is not a Democratic or Republican issue; it's an American issue. It's about keeping the solemn promise we make to the men and women who go to war to defend our freedoms."

Four veterans organizations had urged the House to immediately pass a $1 billion emergency supplemental appropriation. The groups are the AMVETS, the Disabled American Veterans, the Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

In the Senate, the Republican leadership is moving toward increasing VA funding, after voting down money for veterans' health care three times in recent months.

Nicholson, who assured Congress two months ago that his agency needed no more money to treat the wounded, angered Republican appropriators Tuesday.

"It borders on stupidity," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif. "I think someone was hoping they could hide the ball for a while."

Tuesday, the Senate debated a proposal by a group of Democrats to add $1.4 billion to veterans' health care funding for next year.

Nicholson contended that the $1 billion shortage in VA funding is being taken care of this year by tapping a reserve fund and deferring some costs of maintenance and equipment acquisition. He said VA care was not being compromised by the budget problem.
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