Support the Troops

[4dogknight]

Funds for Health Care of Veterans $1 Billion Short (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/23/AR2005062301888.html?referrer=email&referrer=email)

{snip}
"The Bush administration, already accused by veterans groups of seeking inadequate funds for health care next year, acknowledged yesterday that it is short $1 billion for covering current needs at the Department of Veterans Affairs this year.

The disclosure of the shortfall angered Senate Republicans who have been voting down Democratic proposals to boost VA programs at significant political cost. Their votes have brought the wrath of the American Legion, the Paralyzed Veterans of America and other organizations down on the GOP."

{snip}
"Murray cited an April 5 letter written by Nicholson to the Senate in a bid to defeat her amendment: "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," he had said.

Murray aides said they obtained a draft copy of the midyear review in early April, suggesting that the department knew of the budget problems at the time Nicholson wrote the letter.

VA spokesman Terry Jemison refused to release a copy of the document, saying, "We don't provide information about pre-decisional budget passback and midyear reviews."

Nicholson issued a statement yesterday: "The health care needs of America's veterans are among VA's highest priorities. Working with our partners in Congress, I'm confident that VA's budget will continue to provide world-class health care to the nation's veterans."

"Craig and other Senate and House Republicans declined to say how much the fiscal 2006 budget would be raised above the level proposed by the administration. They said any attempt to supplement the current fiscal 2005 appropriation will have to await more detailed information on the shortfall this year. Craig said he plans to hold a hearing next week on VA funding needs."

COMMENT: The party line coming out of the RNC and the rank and file (or is that rank file) is that the liberals are against the war and don't support the troops. Well if they want to say that then they have to tell the truth and say the RNC doesn't support or barely supports Veterans of any war/conflict/police action. (see article above)
Our troops are all of our troops, not just the ones in field at the moment but the troops that have been in the field and have served their country honorably and bravely.

In the country I call America we do not use the troops and then discard them when they come home.
In the country I call America we honor our soldiers, we do not cut their medical care and insurance.
In the country I call America we don't just talk about what we do for our troops; we take action and care for our troops both in the field and at home.

4dk

[EigthAv]

I wrote Congressman Everett:r-ala,several monthes ago,urging him to try and make sure our troops have proper and adequate materials,including body and vehicle armor and to look out for our wounded warriors.Like,I wanna send humans to Mars too,do live in one of the states which will prosper from the project,but lets first make sure there is a home to come home to,right? Mars can wait,out soldiers can't!

[bjb22]

$456 billion (USD) spent on defense out of a $11 trillion economy and we can't find a billon?

Phulezzzzz:rollin

[bjb22]

I was a little too critical in my original assessment. I believe DoD funding for the VA is around $25 billion so a $1 billion shortfall is a big hit. This is serious.

We should more spending money on caring for our troops. I am sure there is a redundant weapons system out there that we could cut.

Defense contractors (private war gluttons) get approx. $125 billion from the Pentagon trough.......maybe we can get the money from a MK missle system or Aegis defense network. Now I don't support disarming ourselves but simply has to be something out there that we don't need.

[Shallah]

get the money back plus a stiff fine and put that towards actually supporting the troops with more than a bunch of hot air. They could listen to the military when they say they need X number of Y equipment instead of giving them W number of Z equipment because the company building Z is based in their state - and again putting the $ to actually supplying soldiers with what they need and then giving them the healthcare owed them when they come home. But that would be too logical and ethical. It won't put $ in their election war chests. It won't get them trips and the other perks they currently get. I don't know why the whole lot of them don't expire from shame on the spot. I truely don't.

[4dogknight]

Plan to raise vet fees hits wall of opposition (http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-07-06-veterans-health_x.htm)

{snip}
"This year, the Bush administration tried to change the deal. The rationale was that veterans such as Hogenson and Wenditz, with incomes generally above $25,000 and with no disabilities stemming from their service, can afford to pay a new $250 annual enrollment fee and $15 for each prescription. The $400 million in annual revenue would help meet rising demand among veterans, including those from Iraq and Afghanistan, for government health care services.

Hogenson found the increase reasonable. "I think there probably should be some type of means-testing," he says.

Wenditz felt otherwise. "I put my time in. I didn't question what my health would be down the road," he says. So he and his American Legion colleagues called their congressmen to complain.

"They tell you, 'Don't worry. It won't pass,' " Wenditz says.

Looks like they were right."

{snip}
"The story of the failed fee increase is typical of many efforts to raise revenue or cut spending in Washington, even when the government is running $350 billion annual deficits. Talk of fiscal discipline often fades in the face of lobbying by groups that would be affected.

That's what happened when the administration tried, for the third consecutive year, to raise the fees for medical service charged to veterans considered less needy than others. Those who initially embraced the proposal backed down in the face of opposition from veterans' groups.

To Republicans who promised a leaner government, about the only thing less popular than raising taxes or fees is cutting veterans' benefits in wartime.

"It's just very difficult to increase fees on veterans," says Rep. James Walsh, R-N.Y., chairman of the House panel with jurisdiction over veterans' spending. "There's a lot of sentiment against that."

{snip}
"Anything having to do with veterans has been a sacred cow," says Brookings Institution guest scholar Bill Frenzel, a former Republican congressman from Minnesota. "But I think it is more sacred than ever when we have troops committed and people dying for their country."

Brown-Waite acknowledges, however, that veterans' low health care fees can't be protected forever. The administration's proposals, she says, had some justification. "It's very difficult, once people have something, to raise the cost or take away the benefit," she says. But "I don't know how much longer we can hold it off."

COMMENT: Hey I have an idea, why not employ Shallah's suggestion, see post above. And as far as "veterans' low health care fees can't be protected forever" - why not. Haven't the folks participating in the congressional health care system been protected from higher fees; at least they have been off set with the annual pay raise voted by the same folks who benefit from said pay raise.
Just a thought and of course I could be wrong.

4dk

[Shallah]

Around a year ago a congressman from the midwest tried to tie Congressional healthcare to VA funding so what the Veterans got Congress got. Of course what should have been a no brainer - since every poltician loves to say they support the troops - it only got a little support and died. This is no sacred cow (false god). This is a sacred trust between America and those who put their lives on the line for her. If we can't be there for them after what they go though for us we should all be ashamed. IMO every politican should have to go through the VA for health care. Our heads will spin when we see how fast it is fixed when it is something that inconveniences them. If they can waste time renaming french toast and french fries they can act for giving veterans what was promised to them.

[Shallah]

Veterans Show Support During Secretary's Visit
www.washingtonpost.com/wp...58_pf.html (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/10/AR2005071001058_pf.html)

Building 7 on the campus of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center here is called Blind Rehab, a special unit for aging vets who have macular degeneration or diabetes-induced vision problems.

But this past year, Blind Rehab began to see a new type of patient: veterans barely past their 20th birthdays, blinded by gunshot wounds and bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq.

SNIP

This year, the post-traumatic stress disorder in-patient unit in Waco has seen more than 75 new cases of veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 15-bed blind rehab unit, which has helped 106 blind veterans this year learn skills such as how to use a walking cane, cook and negotiate e-mail, has a wait list of 73.

"This is the best PTSD facility in the union, and these [guys] are trying to close it down," said Bill Mahon, a Vietnam War veteran and the McLennan County veterans service officer. In the past two years, Mahon has organized several motorcycle rides to the gate of Bush's nearby ranch to protest the proposed closing. "This is not their hospital; it's our hospital."

Nationwide this fiscal year, 250,000 new patients -- 40 percent of them veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq and 60 percent of them veterans from other eras -- have entered the VA health care system, Nicholson said

SNIP

"We laid our life on the line and then got blowed up and then you come here and you get turned away. That ain't fair," said McKee, who suffers from a variety of ailments and uses a walker to get around. "And then they got all the kids coming back from Iraq."

How about this - have the VA get a trademark on those 'support the troops' magnets so they get paid a fee for every one that is made since getting congress to actually support the troops instead of merely talk about it it is too much to expect. I am so furious that I can't find words to express it. Think Zell Miller vs. Chris Matthews mad.

[EigthAv]

All you need do is look at how every congressperson,regardless of party,who represents a state in danger of losing a precious military base is fighting to keep those bases.Even it meant losing one Montgomery's 2 bases,I would rather see that happen,than see wartorn veterans having to beg for proper and fair treatment.The wars are VERY expensive.One prime reason we won in WWII is that most Americans were willing to sacrifice.My goodness! Nowadays,most of us would consider it a supreme and unthinkable sacrifice to go 10 minutes without a cell phone or miss a single episode of American Idol. We'd all best be glad it's the terrorist/insurgents and not a real badass like Columbia or Cuba. That might cost us a weekend at the beach.:eek