Printer Friendly Page

HOUSE APPROVES SPENDING BILL WITH MORE FUNDS

FOR VA -- Will just maintain status quo, leaving VA

drastically underfunded and understaffed.

 

 

I am really disappointed with this budget!

Although it is being touted as a $3.6 billion "increase," this is really the amount of money that would have been in the budget had it been passed in the last Congress.

What we have is status quo. 

The budget was inadequate then...it's inadequate now.  The VA still remains underfunded and understaffed.  This budget doesn't come close to meeting the needs of current veterans, not to mention the pressures being put on the VA by troops returning from OEF and OIF.

Expect more waiting lists for services.

As the editor of a veterans' newspaper told me this morning, "Same tune, different players."

It's time for the Democrats to get off their fiscally-prudent butts and really fund the VA!

Also, expect the service organizations to sing praises and grovel at the feet of Congress for this budget.  As a matter of fact, the first press release is already out and starts with this:  "Organizations representing millions of America's veterans have hailed passage of legislation..." etc.  (That release here... http://www.prnewswire.com/
cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/
story/02-01-2007/0004518331&EDATE= )

It truly is the same tune with different players.

And, veterans lose!

Story here... http://www.dfw.com/
mld/dfw/news/16595557.htm

Story below:

---------------

Budget bill gets House approval

By ANDREW TAYLOR
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A must-pass bill covering about one-sixth of the federal budget, $463.5 billion, swept through the House on Wednesday. A sizable chunk of Republicans joined virtually all Democrats in approving spending increases for education, veterans and the AIDS battle in Africa.

The 286-140 vote, with 57 Republicans voting in favor, was a pleasant surprise for Democrats who expected far less GOP support. The bill had much to please the rank and file, including GOP moderates, even though it contained no pet projects for their districts.

"The content is a heck of a lot better than most expected we'd come up with," said the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey, D-Wis. He worked with his Senate counterpart, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to add money for initiatives popular with both Democrats and Republicans.

The White House has signaled that President Bush will sign the bill despite cuts to his requests for NASA, foreign aid and communities affected by the latest round of military base closings.

Many agencies are feeling a crunch from operating for four months at or below last year's levels. The administration was eager for relief for the FBI, Census Bureau, Veterans Affairs Department and others.

The bill provides increases for underperforming schools, health research and grants to state and local law-enforcement agencies.

It provides a $260 boost, to $4,310, in the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students, and a 40 percent increase, to $4.5 billion, for fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis overseas.

Agencies winning budget relief in the bill include:

Veterans Affairs -- $3.6 billion more for veterans medical care.

The National Institutes of Health -- $620 million more for research grants.

Amtrak, whose budget would be frozen at $1.3 billion instead of absorbing a $400 million cut proposed by Bush.

The Census Bureau -- money for new computers for field workers.

---------------

Larry Scott

Don't forget to read all of today's VA News Flashes (click here)

Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage