Legion Commander: Cut Pork, Not Veterans

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.legion.org/?section=pub_r...release&id=204

Legion Commander: Cut Pork, Not Veterans

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2004 - Vowing to protect the benefits of patriots past and present, the men and women of the 2.7 million-member American Legion are fighting to exempt funding for veterans? programs from a sweeping discretionary-spending freeze passed Wednesday by the House Budget Committee.

?A grateful nation does not abandon its warriors under the banner of fiscal responsibility,? said American Legion National Commander John Brieden, who expressed the Legion?s opposition in a letter to House Budget Committee Chairman Jim Nussle. ?Whether they sacrificed for freedom in the Second World War, the ongoing global war on terror or at any other time, veterans earned their benefits by their honorable military service. The honorable step for Congress is to rein in pork-barrel spending and not to balance the budget to the detriment of veterans and their families. Members of the House Budget Committee who voted to bypass the pork and to aim at veterans programs instead should be ashamed.

?As thousands of veterans wait months for their appointments at Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities, and as hundreds of thousands of additional veterans are denied access to the system due to a budget-driven means test, it is clear that mandatory funding of the VA health care budget is the only effective way to meet the health care needs of America?s veterans. The only way to provide access to VA health care for our nation?s veterans, even for veterans who pay for their treatment, is to guarantee the system?s funding, as our nation does with Social Security and Medicare. Just as our government protects Medicare and Social Security recipients, even during times of fiscal austerity, it must also protect health care for our nation?s veterans.?

The Budget Committee?s resolution, soon to be considered by the full House, would impose a five-year spending freeze for all discretionary programs outside of defense and homeland security. VA health care funding for the 2004 fiscal year is $26.5 billion, plus the amount of third-party collections. Asserting that veterans benefits, particularly VA health care, are among the delayed costs of national security, The American Legion will fight on three tracks: $30 billion for VA health care next year, in addition to, not including, third-party collections; holding the line on veterans? out-of-pocket costs; and shifting VA health care from discretionary to mandatory funding.

?Government spending is about priorities,? said Brieden, whose Legion is the nation?s largest veterans organization. ?We?ll fight to ensure the men and women who sacrifice for freedom in the U.S. armed forces do not take a back seat. We will not fail those with whom we served.?


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For Media: Steve Thomas, 202/263-2982; Pager 800/759-8888, #115-8679; Joe March, (317) 630-1253; Pager 317/382-7745

For assistance in applying for veterans benefits, call (800) 433-3318 to locate the nearest American Legion service officer.

[Gimpy]

My letters went out yesterday to my Congressman, both Senators and every single member of the House & Senate Committees on Veterans Affairs and the House Budget committee.

Thanks for posting this,