Veterans service organizations are thrilled with a $43.1 billion appropriations bill that Congress is set to pass next month for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The money for veterans programs and facilities is almost 20 percent higher than demoralized Republican leaders left behind a year ago. The $6.9 billion increase will allow the veterans agency to hire 1,800 more claim processors, beef up medical staffs and modernize long- neglected hospitals and clinics.
“I can’t praise the Democratic leadership enough for what they’ve done with addressing the budget that was handed to them the day they took office,” said Steve Robertson, legislative director for the American Legion.
The 109th Congress adjourned last December without passing a VA appropriations bill. It left the department operating under what’s called a continuing resolution with VA spending frozen at its 2006 level.
In taking control of the 110th Congress, Democrats immediately raised VA funding for fiscal 2007 by $3.5 billion. They then turned to veterans groups for guidance on setting the budget for next year.
As usual, four major organizations — Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America and American Veterans — prepared an independent budget to guide lawmakers. The American Legion followed up, also as usual, with its own budget wish list.
But Democrats last spring did something very unusual. To the delight of advocacy groups, they used the budget guidance from vet groups to set their budget blueprint, making VA funding a clear priority.
“In the 20 years I’ve been working in Washington,” said Robertson, “this is the first time that (Congress) met or exceeded every recommendation that was made by both the Independent Budget and the American Legion. It’s unprecedented.”
It’s still too early to assess what veterans will gain legislatively in this year besides robust VA funding, which is a lock. Committee hearings and reports from special commissions produced many headlines on needed benefit gains. But many of the resulting ideas, from bigger GI Bill benefits to raised disability payments, were controversial and costly. Most likely they won’t win serious consideration from lawmakers until 2008, at the earliest.
Other bills have been endorsed by the veterans affairs committees and some have been passed by either the House or the Senate. But their final passage is mired in partisan politics and special interests.
In separate phone interviews before Thanksgiving, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairmen of the veterans’ affairs committees, cited the VA funding increases as the clear highlight of their first year holding their committee gavel.
“The key thing is resources have been put in place to do the job,” said Filner. He described the veterans health system as “stretched to its limit” by an aging veteran population and the special challenges of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries.
Both chairmen said they continue to emphasize to colleagues, and to Bush administration officials, that care of veterans must be seen as a “cost of war.” Akaka confirmed that bills cleared by his committee might not be enacted until 2008.
One, the Veterans’ Traumatic Brain Injury and Other Health Programs Improvement Act (S. 1233), would extend the period of eligibility for discharged combat veterans to have swift access to VA health care from two years to five. Veterans who believe they suffer one of the invisible wounds of post traumatic stress or brain injuries would be guaranteed a mental health exam within 30 days of making a request. The same bill would increase the travel reimbursement rate for veterans commuting long distances to get VA care. It would jump to 28 cents a mile from the 11 cent rate set in 1978.
Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, has put a hold on the bill, however, because of a provision was added after it cleared committee to reopen VA health care to veterans with no service-connected disabilities and adequate incomes by government standards.
Akaka and Filner support such enrollments. Dan Whiting, Craig’s spokesman, said he opposes reopening VA health care to every veteran “because it would take resources away from returning injured veterans.”
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