Saturday, June 25, 2005
Making Veterans: Good. Caring for Veterans: Bad.
That seems to be the m.o. for the Republicans.
As war continues in two fronts, and more wounded veterans come home everyday, the Veterans' Affairs Administration is facing a $1 billion shortfall in the money it needs to take care of our soldiers.
This follows a pattern in which Republicans on the Hill and in the White House refuse to put the necessary funding into VA programs.
Here are words from others. First, my former Congressman (but no longer, thanks to DeLay's redistricting) as per the Associated Press:
"Waco Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards said he raised the alarm about the budget shortfall months ago trying to increase funding through amendments to legislation providing more funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and separately during a committee debate on the House budget plan.
'I pointed out ... that the VA this year was cannibalizing its equipment and capital budgets to keep the lights on and to cover operating expenses. A lot of members of Congress and the leadership of VA chose to ignore those facts, but I'm glad they are coming to light right now,' said Edwards, ranking Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees VA funding.
He proposed paying for a $2.2 billion increase in the VA budget by shrinking a tax cut for people with incomes of more than $1 million, but it was rejected on party lines, he said."
This is from the Washington Post:
"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.
Traditionally, Violante [Joseph A. Violante, legislative director of the Disabled American Veterans] said, 'Republicans have been supportive of defense,' but he said Bush administration policies and votes in the House and Senate suggest that the GOP does not view the care of veterans as 'a continuing cost of war.'"
As war continues in two fronts, and more wounded veterans come home everyday, the Veterans' Affairs Administration is facing a $1 billion shortfall in the money it needs to take care of our soldiers.
This follows a pattern in which Republicans on the Hill and in the White House refuse to put the necessary funding into VA programs.
Here are words from others. First, my former Congressman (but no longer, thanks to DeLay's redistricting) as per the Associated Press:
"Waco Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards said he raised the alarm about the budget shortfall months ago trying to increase funding through amendments to legislation providing more funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and separately during a committee debate on the House budget plan.
'I pointed out ... that the VA this year was cannibalizing its equipment and capital budgets to keep the lights on and to cover operating expenses. A lot of members of Congress and the leadership of VA chose to ignore those facts, but I'm glad they are coming to light right now,' said Edwards, ranking Democrat on the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees VA funding.
He proposed paying for a $2.2 billion increase in the VA budget by shrinking a tax cut for people with incomes of more than $1 million, but it was rejected on party lines, he said."
This is from the Washington Post:
"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.
Traditionally, Violante [Joseph A. Violante, legislative director of the Disabled American Veterans] said, 'Republicans have been supportive of defense,' but he said Bush administration policies and votes in the House and Senate suggest that the GOP does not view the care of veterans as 'a continuing cost of war.'"
