White House Seeks $125 Billion for Vets
The White House has announced a proposed $125 billion budget next year for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The proposal calls for expanding health care to a record number of veterans, reducing the number of homeless veterans and processing a dramatically increased number of new disability compensation claims.
"Our budget proposal provides the resources necessary to continue our aggressive pursuit of President Obama's two over-arching goals for veterans," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. "First, the requested budget will help transform VA into a 21st century organization. And second, it will ensure that we approach Veterans' care as a lifetime initiative, from the day they take their oaths until the day they are laid to rest."
The $125 billion budget request, which has to be approved by Congress, includes $60.3 billion for discretionary spending (mostly health care) and $64.7 billion in mandatory funding (mostly for disability compensation and pensions).
"VA's 2011 budget request covers many areas but focuses on three central issues that are of critical importance to our Veterans - easier access to benefits and services, faster disability claims decisions, and ending the downward spiral that results in veterans' homelessness," Shinseki said.
Veterans advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) strongly endorses the VA's $125 billion budget, according to spokesperson Paul Sullivan. "Specifically, we thank President Barack Obama and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki for increasing funding by nearly $300 million to end homelessness by the end of 2014," he said.
However, Sullivan said he thinks our new Iraq and Afghanistan veterans as well as our Gulf War veterans should get more funding. "Tragically, the scope of the Iraq and Afghanistan war casualties reached far above any worst case scenario," he said. "As of June 2009, VA reported 480,000 veteran patients from the two wars. VA also reported 442,000 disability claims filed. Nearly 300 first-time Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans flood into VA medical facilities every day."
VCS is disappointed that the VA does not have an accurate casualty estimate and a long-range strategic casualty plan, Sullivan said. Two months ago, the VA estimated 419,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran patients treated by the VA through the end of September 2010.
"VA's estimate was wrong," Sullivan. "At the current rate of nearly 9,000 new patients per month, a more realistic VA estimate should have been a cumulative total of 615,000 patients treated as of September 2010. VA's 200,000 patient underestimation is a colossal failure because VA may lack the mental healthcare providers, disability claims processors, and education benefit processors to meet the need of this increasing cohort of veterans."
