|
|
|
|
|
GOP Budget Resolution Leaves Department of Veterans Affairs Grossly Underfunded
(May 2, 2005)
|
|
Rep. Lane Evans (D-IL), Ranking Minority Member of the House VA Committee voted last week against a GOP budget resolution that he believes will have a devastating effect on veterans' programs. Democrats on the Committee supported a budget that would have added $3.2 billion to the President's budget request for fiscal year 2006. The GOP budget resolution passed Thursday by a vote of 214 to 211 added only $872 million to veterans programs.
Evans said that the final package would leave veterans programs unable to meet current needs. In support of his position, Evans cited Committee testimony from President George W. Bush's first Administration that indicated veterans' health care should receive 13-14% annually to keep up with growth in enrollment and medical inflation. Evans also stated that veterans' need to enroll could continue to grow given cuts in other public health programs, such as Medicaid, and rising numbers of uninsured Americans.
Under a rarely used floor procedure which severely curtails the rights of the minority, Democrats were unable to review the contents of the GOP budget resolution until a couple of hours before a vote was called.
The President's fiscal year 2006 budget submission contains controversial proposals to increase some veterans' copayments for pharmaceutical drugs and levy new enrollment fees before they could access care. The conference package would provide funds that would compensate VA for the savings and lost revenues from not implementing these proposals.
Evans stated that even with the slight improvement, VA could still be forced to make draconian reductions in long-term care programs, and shoulder even greater "management efficiencies".
"Management efficiencies must be viewed as what they truly are -- cuts in services to veterans, longer queues for care, and probably less points of access for care than veterans have been promised and deserve," said Evans. Evans also expressed concerns that the funding proposal failed to bolster mental health programs for returning troops, or to better ensure that veterans' claims can be administered on a timely basis.
"America's veterans deserve our eternal support and gratitude, and we should reflect this gratitude by providing adequate funds for the programs that serve them and help them readjust to their lives as civilians. This budget resolution fails our Nation's heroes and we should be ashamed if we pass it," Evans said prior to the vote.
|
|
|
|
