Congress Fails To Pass On-Time VA Budget
As they have for the better part of a decade, Congress has failed to pass an on-time budget for VA. The government’s new fiscal year begins on October 1, and instead of pressing forward on the VA Appropriations bill, each chamber has passed a stopgap funding measure while will fund VA and the rest of the government through November 16th. This means that, in the short term, VA will be funded on last year’s level – a level that does not account for the growing numbers of veterans seeking care. The stopgap budget they have approved is roughly $6.7 billion less than what Congress itself has decided what VA needs, and will hamper VA’s efforts to recruit and retain the highest quality doctors, nurses and health care professionals. It will also delay VA’s ability to hire and train disability compensation claims processors, impairing VA’s ability to manage the ever-growing backlog.This past week, VFW let Congress know that we expect them to approve the budget on-time. The differences between the House and Senate versions are negligible, and the bipartisan support for the bill would ensure its success if it had come up for a vote. Congressional leaders, however, decided to use the broad support for it to attach less politically popular provisions, turning it into a large omnibus bill and delaying its passage.
The VFW calls on Congress to end the political games and do what is right for this nation’s veterans, especially those wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. We urge all VFW members, and any concerned veterans’ advocates you know to call your Congressman and Senators, to tell them to immediately pass the VA budget. This nation’s 24 million veterans are looking to them to do the right thing.
posted by Greg @ 9:06 AM
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