posted on August 21, 2003 05:20:12 PM new
i say let the fascists go and fight, and keep the decent people here, because when the fascists come home, they then will be jerked, then screwed, and thrown into the gutters by their own kind. Anyone stupid enough to join the military today better talk to some war vets first, and learn the truth about God and country.
Veterans plan to exact action at polls
GOP-led House reneges on pledge to pass $3.2 billion for VA medical care
By Dennis Camire / Gannett News Service
WASHINGTON -- Veterans are condemning House Republicans' failure to deliver a $3.2 billion boost for the Veterans Affairs Department that would have shrunk the agency's waiting list for medical care.
"A shameless betrayal" is how AMVETS sums it up.
"A moral outrage," the American Legion said.
"Abominable" is the word from the Non Commissioned Officers Association.
"Veterans have been pushed to the limits," said Joe Violante, national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans. "They're being lied to, and they're not tolerating it."
The broken promise -- the second time in a year Congress has reneged on a pledge to veterans -- has veterans vowing to remember at the ballot box.
"They're saying there has got to be a change made because if there isn't, we're never going to get what we're due," said Richard DeLong, a Vietnam veteran in Lafayette, La.
During April budget debates, the GOP-led House -- under criticism for not putting enough money into VA medical care -- approved a nonbinding budget that promised to increase VA medical spending by $1.8 billion more than the additional $1.4 billion President Bush had requested.
The money would have helped more than 132,000 veterans who wait six months or longer for their first VA doctor's appointment. Although the VA's medical budget has increased $8.3 billion in the past seven years, the agency's spending on each patient has decreased $624.
Last month, House Republican leadership, bowing to Bush administration pressure to curb spending and their own desire for hometown projects, cut the promised $1.8 billion.
Despite failed efforts to add the money back, the bill passed 316-109 with 59 Republicans and 50 Democrats opposing. Of the House Veterans Affairs Committee's 31 members, 20 voted against the bill, including committee Chairman Chris Smith, R-N.J., and top Democrat Lane Evans of Illinois.
The bill's next step is Senate consideration this fall.
"We got fooled, and we got whupped," said Richard F. Weidman, director of government relations for Vietnam Veterans of America. "We are not going to let individual members of this Congress forget this vote."
American Legion national commander Ronald F. Conley said the discouraging part is that the House GOP leadership warned Republicans that pet projects in the bill would be in jeopardy if they didn't vote yes.
"We have the money to pay for a statue of the Roman god Vulcan in Birmingham, Ala. We have money to pay for a bike trail in North Dakota. We have money to fund a Nevada helicopter company that performs Elvis impersonator weddings," Conley said. "And yet we have neither the heart nor the will to ensure that all United States veterans receive the medical care they earned and we owe them."
President Bush may hear more on the issue Tuesday when he is to speak to 13,000 delegates at the American Legion's national convention in St. Louis.
Congress' actions have many veterans talking about political consequences.
"Veterans more and more are beginning to sense a loss of faith and confidence in the administration," said Richard C. Schneider, director of veteran and state affairs for the Non Commissioned Officers Association. "They're no longer willing to be the quiet, accepting veterans that they have been in the past. I think they're actually going to hold some people accountable."
Veterans are talking about increasing turnout at the polls next year, veterans groups say.
posted on August 25, 2003 07:57:00 AM new
how come i don't here any of the fascists here answer this one, or is it that you know that what Bush and his goons are doing here is wrong, so i ask you all , Do you agree with this cut to the vets, yes or no ?
posted on August 25, 2003 09:39:01 AM newThe silence is deafening...lol
That's just because it gets very old having to educate those who haven't a clue as to what they are talking about.
skylite - Do you have the date the article you've posted was printed and what online source it came from?
The latest Armed Forces news I found in searching for the accusation skylite has made was this one:
ARMED FORCES NEWS - VA SECRETARY DECRIES BUDGET SLASH MYTH May 2, 2003
On April 24, Veterans Affairs secretary Principi issued a rebuttal of a rumor that Congress has slashed funding for the VA. The myth was so prevalent that even a member of Congress had written in a Chicago Sun-Times op-ed of a "$28 billion cut in veterans' benefits and health care," he stated.
In fact, funding for veterans programs will increase in fiscal year 2004, probably to record levels, he said. The President's fiscal 2004 budget requests a record $63.6 billion for the VA, including a nearly 8 percent increase over fiscal 2003 for discretionary funding, which mostly pays for VA's health care system, and a 32 percent increase overall.
And a budget conference report raises discretionary funding by an additional $1.8 billion. The rumor may have been fueled by a House resolution for across-the-board cuts of 1 percent, but which quickly exempted the VA, said Principi.
Just as the 'pay cut' for veterans was proven incorrect....this proposed bill has NOT been set it cement yet.....but the left has to get their Bush-is-responsible-for everything-in-the-world-that-goes-wrong posts in. lol
______________________
[ edited by Linda_K on Aug 25, 2003 09:42 AM ]
posted on August 25, 2003 10:42:47 AM newJust as the 'pay cut' for veterans was proven incorrect....this proposed bill has NOT been set it cement yet.....but the left has to get their Bush-is-responsible-for everything-in-the-world-that-goes-wrong posts in. lol
I know that VA hospitals are closing all across the country. Because of the economy, more and more veterans are being forced to turn to the VA for help.
"A lot of people have lost their health care and turned to the VA," said Ronald Conley, national commander of the American Legion. "They don't have a job, or they don't have insurance. Or they're senior citizens on Medicare who need low-cost drugs. Medicare doesn't provide them."
Shari Grewe, a patient advocate at the Kansas City VA Medical Center, said many veterans don't consider using the VA system until they are in a financial bind.
"Most were working; they had insurance and didn't feel the need to come here," Grewe said. "Usually when they find out about us, it's by word of mouth."
To slow the enrollment surge, VA Secretary Anthony Principi in January suspended additional enrollments by veterans with individual incomes of more than about $24,000 who did not have service-related medical conditions.
posted on August 25, 2003 10:50:59 AM new
Here is another story that supports your story, Linda. (The budget resolution is non binding, of course.)
DATE: March 21, 2003
On March 21, 2003, the United States House of Representatives passed its budget resolution without cuts in veterans’ medical care and mandatory programs. Republican “holdouts,” Chairman Chris Smith (R-NJ), Representatives Michael Bilirakis (R-FL), Rick Renzi (R-AZ), Rob Simmons (R-CT), Walter Jones (R-NC), Charles Pickering (R-MS), extracted an 11th-hour promise from the House Leadership not to cut veterans’ mandatory programs such as disability compensation, and to recede to the Senate’s higher spending levels for veterans’ health care programs. Although it was too late to change the language in the House Budget Resolution, H. Con. Res. 95, the Budget Committee Chairman, Jim Nussle (R-IA), provided a written promise to match the Senate’s higher spending levels when the House and Senate go to conference on the budget resolution.
While this is a major victory for veterans, we must continue to keep pressure on the Senate to ensure that they pass a budget that includes increased funding for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care and eliminates proposals to increase copayments for prescriptions and outpatient visits for certain veterans and charge other veterans enrollment fees. As you know, the budget resolution passed by Congress is non-binding and only provides a blueprint for spending levels. Therefore, it is also important that we contact appropriators and ask them to provide increased levels of spending for VA medical care programs above the Administration’s proposed budget.
Had it not been for the efforts of DAV members, their families, and other supporters, we would not have been able to get the agreement of the House Leadership to exempt veterans from the drastic cuts proposed in the House Budget Resolution. Thanks to your efforts, Democrats such as House Budget Committee Ranking Member John Spratt (D-SC), and Committee Member Chet Edwards (D-TX) and others were able to take our case to the floor of the House during the budget debate.
posted on August 25, 2003 11:11:28 AM new
Yesterday, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told fellow veterans that the Bush administration has failed U.S. troops in Iraq while neglecting soldiers who served in past wars.
On veterans issues, Kerry criticized the GOP-led House for seeking to cut $1.8 billion from Veterans Administration health care programs that he said are already in poor shape. More than 130,0000 veterans are waiting for care at VA facilities, Kerry said, and more than 50,000 wait longer than six months for their first doctor's visit. "We shouldn't be neglecting to care for our troops and their families before, during and after the war," Kerry said.
He criticized the Pentagon for opposing legislation that would extend an increase in combat pay for troops in Iraq and other war zones. Kerry said troops should be paid comparable to what they would be earning in the private sector.
posted on August 25, 2003 11:24:45 AM new
Besides opposing the Iraq war resolution “supporting the troops” that Congress passed, Kucinich is fighting the simultaneous and hypocritical cuts to veterans’ services that are traveling through Congress right now. He initiated restoring retired veterans healthcare and co-sponsored a bill allocating 20 percent of public housing for the nation’s 200,000 homeless veterans. At the same time, he is leading the charge demanding an investigation of Bush’s use of intelligence that misled Congress and the public to support invading Iraq.
posted on August 25, 2003 11:29:24 AM new
Democrats also point to the Veterans Affairs-Housing-Independent Agencies spending bill to highlight alleged Republican hypocrisy.
An e-mail obtained by The Hill, sent by Rules Democrats to the Democratic caucus on July 25 reads: “fyi: about 1:00 a.m., Rules GOPers reported a very restrictive rule that continues their systematic strategy of killing priorities.” The last six words were underlined.
The e-mail referred to two failed attempts to increase funding for veterans programs in the VA-HUD-Independent Agencies appropriations bill.
One of the proposed amendments included $1.8 billion in new spending; the majority used the existing budget rules that require offsets to reject the measure along party lines, 7 to 4.
posted on August 25, 2003 03:42:46 PM new
What in the hell are you people talking about?? The VA is more than generous to vets. I only served 6 years, but I can get all the health care I need without costing me a dime. In fact, I just got a physical last week. The wait time for the appointment was 2 months, but regular patients can get seen much faster if there are cancelled appointments. When I was there, there were more staff than patients. There's an emergency room available and prescriptions are free. What more could we ask for??
If a vet lives out in the boondocks, sure there might be a 6 month wait at a small VA clinic. If that's a problem, then the vet should move closer to a VA hospital.
[ edited by ebayauctionguy on Aug 25, 2003 03:43 PM ]
posted on August 25, 2003 04:11:10 PM new
yes, ebayauctionguy, it's a shame they can't understand the truth....but anything they think they can use to discredit Bush or his administration, they will continue to do. Whether it's true or not. If anyone took the time to look at any graphs on VA spending during the 2001, 2002 and 2003 they would see the continued increases in benefits. And the same is proposed for 2004. But....twist they must.....
