DAV says Presidents 2009 VA Budget falls far short of what's actually needed!

[Gimpy]

You'll find below a "Legislative Update" I received from the DAV today regarding the shortfalls of President Bushs' fiscal year 2009 VA Budget.

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Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:42:54 -0500 (EST)

From: "Disabled American Veterans"



Subject: Legislative Update--

To: "Steve Johnson"


LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

FEBRUARY 14, 2008


Congress has begun to hold hearings on the budget for 2009 and the outlook for veteran programs is not certain. DAV is responding in a number of ways to increase the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget proposal, which falls short of meeting the needs of our veterans.


Video Response : DAV has produced a compelling web video responding to the budget shortfall for veterans’ health care. Our video can be viewed at www.youtube.com/standupforveterans. This is the first in a series of videos we will be creating on veterans’ health care needs. Please share this video with other family and friends who would be interested in joining our campaign to Stand Up For Veterans.


Independent Budget : DAV, together with its Independent Budget partners – AMVETS, Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) – has issued the 2009 Independent Budget report that highlights the $3 billion difference between what the President has recommended for the VA and what is actually needed.


Under the President’s budget, there is not enough money for veterans’ health care, which could result in fewer services to deal with the surge of traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, visual and hearing impairment, and spinal cord injury/dysfunction. We will be working with Congress to correct funding shortfalls in critical areas such as health care, as well as work to reform the budget process to ensure that veterans’ health care funding is sufficient, timely, and predictable in the future. The full Independent Budget document can be found here.......

http://es1.pva.org/independentbudget/index.htm


Congressional Testimony :The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs yesterday received testimony from DAV’s Kerry Baker, as well as other major veterans’ groups, urging Congress to make significant changes to the budget for veterans’ programs. The House Committee also received testimony from DAV and others last week highlighting the funding shortfalls and policy changes recommended by DAV and the Independent Budget. Testimony to the House and Senate committees can be found here.........

http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/h...spx?newsid=180

http://www.senate.gov/~svac/public/i...lease_id=11506


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Please write, call or E-mail your elected officials and let them know you want them to make sure Congress places the additional $3 billion into the fiscal 2009 Budget to overcome the shortfalls of what President Bush has submitted.

He once again has failed to honor his committment to this nations veterans.

It's up to US-----ALL of US to make sure Congress gets the message that we will not allow the administration to continue to shortchange this countrys' veterans.

The DAV web site has an easy "link" to find your Congressmen & Senators. You can find that here..............

http://capwiz.com/dav/dbq/officials/

Thanks,

Gimp