SwiftVets.com

[Craig]

http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=141

Bush’s War Against U.S. Military Veterans



As President Bush pours money into the military, he also reduces money to military veterans.
By Frederick Sweet

Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, a Navy veteran and winner of the Silver Star in the Vietnam War, sent a letter July 30 to President George W. Bush requesting a reversal of his new policy of withholding information of Veteran Administration benefits from veterans and their families. Bush ordered VA centers around the country to cease informing veterans and their families about government health care services and to stop recruiting new veterans to use them.

The VA is obliged to provide medical services to all veterans who have service-connected disabilities and then to all veterans that are indigent -- first those with combat injuries and then those who are destitute. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs has the discretion, however, to offer eligibility to more veterans. In 1996 during the Presidency of Bill Clinton, Congress instructed the VA to expand its eligibility to include all veterans, not just those who are combat disabled or indigent. These additional veterans, including those with civilian injuries, are given a lower priority.

In his letter, Kerry also called for the resignation of Laura J. Miller, a deputy undersecretary for health for operations and management, who is carrying out Bush’s draconian VA policy. But Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony J. Principi said he directed Miller to send the memo, and he rejected Kerry's call for Miller's resignation.

When Principi was confirmed as Secretary by a unanimous vote of the Senate, he had said about veterans: "America now reaps the fruit of the service of 24 million veterans. However, their service imposes upon us a reciprocal obligation. The president-elect has charged me with the mission of transforming that obligation into the benefits and services earned by generations of veterans. I am proud to respond to that call, just as those veterans responded when their country called upon them."

Defending his response to Kerry, Principi said, "We have a serious situation in the VA, and I think it is irresponsible to strongly recruit for new enrollees when we cannot meet the expectations and the needs for the people currently enrolled.... To me it would just be irresponsible and lead to unfulfilled expectations."

According to an August 1, 2002 report in the Boston Globe, Kerry told his Senate colleagues: ''I hope the administration is going to keep America's promise to our veterans.... It's almost so obvious that it should go without saying, but I hope that this [Bush’s VA policy] is going to be reversed immediately."

In Miller's memo, which Veterans Administration officials leaked to Kerry and The Recorder of Greenfield, Massachusetts, the deputy undersecretary highlighted the growing strains on the VA. Miller said the department has received "very conservative budget guidance for 2004," and is risking its goal of a maximum 30-day wait for veterans’ services.

“We’re in a time of war,” Ralph Cooper, executive director of the Veterans Benefits Clearinghouse in Boston, said. “What kind of message are you sending to combatants with a memo like [Miller’s]?”

Last month, as part of a $5.1 billion budget package, Congress included $275 million for veterans' medical care that would have helped to cover VA expenses. President Bush, however, labels the bill “loaded with pork” that he will reject. According to the Washington Post, Bush is rejecting the $5.1 billion Congressional authorization (including the $275 million earmarked for veterans’ care) to teach lawmakers a lesson about what he considers overspending. Bush did sign, however, a $28.9 billion bill for supplementing homeland security and defense funds.

According to Tom Materazzo, an Army veteran of World War II and commissioner of Veteran Services for Boston, "If you said publicly to America that we're trying to ration veterans’ services -- and what else is it? -- no one would like how that sounds. The cure is to provide the money."

In an earlier address to the Disabled American Veterans, National Adjutant Arthur H. Wilson, referred to the more than one-third of America’s homeless people who are veterans: “On any given night in America, more than 275,000 homeless men and women are veterans. That’s the equivalent of 18 infantry divisions on the streets of this great nation with no place to call home -- quite literally, an army of homeless veterans. And that is simply intolerable."

Wilson concluded, "Just as we don't leave our wounded behind on the battlefield, we must not leave our homeless veterans behind abandoned on the streets of our cities."

Frederick Sweet is Professor of Reproductive Biology in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

[LewWaters]

Veterans' Health Benefits Won't Be Cut
By Rob Simmons
Published on 5/3/2003

Unfortunately, there have been misleading reports circulating in the press about “deep cuts” coming in veterans' health care and benefits. In an Associated Press article published last week in various state newspapers including The Day, it was alleged that some veterans would be restricted from enrolling into the VA health system and many more would be required “to pay annual $250 enrollment fees and new prescription drug co-pays of $15 instead of $7.”

Although the Bush Administration may have proposed these ideas, both received cold receptions in the Committee on Veterans' Affairs and have neither been endorsed nor approved by Congress. Here are the facts on veterans' spending and the budget.

40 percent hike since 1998

The budget passed by both the House and the Senate provides $63.8 billion for veterans' programs. This represents an increase of $6.2 billion, or 10.7 percent more than Congress approved for VA in fiscal year 2003. This funding is divided between two categories of spending for veterans — “mandatory” and “discretionary.” Funding in both categories was increased at record levels by the budget process.

Key facts about this veterans' budget are:

Congress will provide $33.8 billion, an 8.9 percent increase in mandatory spending in fiscal year 2004. This will allow mandatory programs for veterans to grow to support increased payments for compensation, pensions, educational and other cash benefits. If more is needed because of war costs, that funding will be made available — it is “mandatory” that we do so.

The budget provides $30 billion, a 12.9 percent increase in discretionary spending for veterans in fiscal year 2004, nearly 90 percent of which is for veterans' medical care.

To put the current spending in historical perspective, medical care spending in the Department of Veterans Affairs has grown 40 percent since 1998, with an average growth of 6.9 percent each year. The 10.7 percent increase in VA spending represents the largest increase ever for veterans spending, both in real dollars and as a percentage over the prior year.

The Department of Veterans Affairs provides a wide variety of services to veterans across the nation. The fiscal year 2004 congressional budget for veterans will address this wide range of services.

No prescription co-pays

For example, this budget will help VA deliver comprehensive health care services to over 4.5 million veterans and train over 80,000 doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals.

VA's medical research spending will be increased up to $460 million for thousands of clinical studies on prosthetics, post-traumatic stress disorder, Hepatitis C, organ transplant and hundreds of other crucial areas.

In addition to these health care services, this budget will provide a cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase for 2.7 million veterans and their survivors. Also, this funding will guarantee more than 3 million GI Bill home loans, including an anticipated 250,000 homes for veterans and their families.

As the chairman of the VA Health Subcommittee, the congressional budget contains no provision to “freeze-out” any veteran from the VA health system, nor does the budget require annual enrollment fees and prescription drug co-pays.

In fact, this congressional budget does not “cut” veterans benefits — period. Any allegation to the contrary is untrue.

By sharing this information with your readers, I hope to set the record straight. For further information, please visit the website of the House Committee on the Budget ( www.budget.house.gov/congbudget.htm). Free, open and factual information is what our veterans and our citizens deserve.

U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons represents Connecticut's 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives.

http://www.house.gov/simmons/print/inthenews68.html

[Craig]

[LewWaters]

Craig, find another barrel to scrape the bottom of. Proposals of decreasing an increase are only considered cuts within Washington D.C.

[Craig]

[LewWaters]

[colmurph]

{quote}
In an earlier address to the Disabled American Veterans, National Adjutant Arthur H. Wilson, referred to the more than one-third of America’s homeless people who are veterans: “On any given night in America, more than 275,000 homeless men and women are veterans. That’s the equivalent of 18 infantry divisions on the streets of this great nation with no place to call home -- quite literally, an army of homeless veterans. And that is simply intolerable." {quote}

This is absolutely *********! Most of the "Homeless" are NOT veterans and are on the streets because the ACLU has "Freed Them" from state run mental institutions. Show me a "Homeless Veteran" and by that I mean show me the body and the documentation from a SF-180 or DD-214 that the "Homeless Person" is indeed a veteran. Don't list the ones who have a Bad Conduct Discharge or a Dishonorable Discharge as they deserve no support from the VA and in fact are barred by federal law from receiving any. This "Homeless Veteran" crap is urban legend.

[colmurph]

{quote}
In an earlier address to the Disabled American Veterans, National Adjutant Arthur H. Wilson, referred to the more than one-third of America’s homeless people who are veterans: “On any given night in America, more than 275,000 homeless men and women are veterans. That’s the equivalent of 18 infantry divisions on the streets of this great nation with no place to call home -- quite literally, an army of homeless veterans. And that is simply intolerable." {quote}

This is absolutely *********! Most of the "Homeless" are NOT veterans and are on the streets because the ACLU has "Freed Them" from state run mental institutions. Show me a "Homeless Veteran" and by that I mean show me the body and the documentation from a SF-180 or DD-214 that the "Homeless Person" is indeed a veteran. Don't list the ones who have a Bad Conduct Discharge or a Dishonorable Discharge as they deserve no support from the VA and in fact are barred by federal law from receiving any. This "Homeless Veteran" crap is urban legend.

[95 bxl]

[Greenhat]

Interesting.

A few points, courtesy of the local Retired Affairs Officer.

In 2002, the Bush administration directed the VA to take on a policy of assisting veterans, changing from a confrontational policy regarding claims, to a policy of assistance and support. Those who deal with veteran's affairs see this as the largest and most important change in the VA in its existence.

Since before WWII, the Democrats had over 40 years in which they controlled both Congress and the White House, and could have passed concurrent receipt (it was an issue in some form pretty much ever since it was taken away). They never did. It took this Republican Congress and Republican administration to pass a form of concurrent receipt.

Bush's war against veterans?
_________________
De Oppresso Liber

[Craig]

[quote="LewWaters"]

[Craig]

[LewWaters]

[Craig]

[Greenhat]