Leaders of the American Legion, the Paralyzed Veterans and the Disabled American Veterans all noted a striking partisan division in Congress on veterans issues, with Democrats giving them much more support than Republicans.
And
what prompted this important shift in perception? Nothing too important...just the administration admitting that they are
$1 billion short for covering the cost of running the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Oops. But fear not, the administration is all over this. They've raised spending by cutting programs. No, you don't need to read that again...they raised the spending by cutting programs.
And by the way, apparently the administration has known about the problem for months and lied about it to try and help defeat a supplemental bill introduced by Senator Patty Murray.
More...
Where to begin...first, reactions from various veteran groups:
Joseph A. Violante, legislative director of the Disabled American Veterans, said Perlin's testimony yesterday confirms the veterans' assessment that the administration is "shortchanging veterans." [...]
Their "policies are inconsistent with a nation at war," said Steve Robertson, legislative director of the American Legion. They violate the basic military value of "an army of one, teamwork, taking care of each other," he said. [...]
Richard Fuller, legislative director of the Paralyzed Veterans, said the money problems this year and next were obvious to anyone visiting VA clinics and hospitals.
"You could see it happening, clinics shutting down, appointments delayed," Fuller said.
Now the administration is claiming that they are (besides supporting yellow magnets) supporting the vets by
increasing VA spending...but that isn't flying with veteran groups:
American Legion National Commander Thomas P. Cadmus countered that nearly $1 billion of the $1.6 billion increase would be achieved by cutting other medical accounts: $533 million from the medical administration account, $417 million from medical facilities and $9 million from medical and prosthetics research.
I was particularly struck by the cuts to prosthetics research...they must have forgotten the thousands of new amputees created by Bush's war.
And as for Senator Murray? Patty Murray has led the efforts to have $1.9 billion added to the VA budget but has been rebuffed by the GOP majority. In April, Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Jim Nicholson, wrote a letter to the Senate stating:
"I can assure you that VA does not need emergency supplemental funds in FY2005 to continue to provide timely, quality service that is always our goal,"
The problem for Mr. Nicholson is Senator Murray has a copy of a mid-year budget review that suggests Nicholson knew about the shortfall at the time he wrote his letter.
I have no doubt that there will be creative accounting...some robbing Peter to pay Paul...and the VA costs will somehow be covered. But what's important here is the realization by veteran groups and by extension veterans, that this administration is far from being their friends and in fact have cut them loose since the election.
The Bush administration's priorities are "a little bit different now and veterans aren't a priority," Violante said. He described this as "terrible -- I think it's unconscionable."
