Bush palns to veto Veterna bill

The Republican love our soldiers, seamen, airmen and marines when they
are fighting for the Republican way of life. Once the the young man or
women leaves the Armed Forces, Republicans treat them like trash.
since the Iraq War started more than 20,000 American Servicemen have
been wounded. will Bush authorize more funds to help them? Read
below.
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White House Against Boosting VA Budget
Providence Journal | George W. Reilly | July 03, 2007
White House Warns Congress Against Hiking VA Budget Figure

Moves in Congress to give the Department of Veterans Affairs as much
as $3.8 billion more than the Bush administration proposed has drawn
an indirect veto threat from the White House.

"If Congress increases VA funding above the president's request and
does not offset this increase with spending reductions in other bills,
the president will veto any of the other bills that exceed his request
until Congress demonstrates a path to reach the president's top line
of $933 billion," the Office of Management and Budget said in a
statement.

The Veterans Affairs budget currently stands at $36.5 billion, and the
administration has proposed raising it to $40.1 billion. In Congress,
a conference committee is attempting to reconcile a House bill
providing $3.8-billion beyond that with a Senate measure that would
increase the administration's proposal by $3.6 billion.

Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, chairman of the House veterans affairs
appropriations subcommittee, said, "This bill is about respect, and
honors the promises made to our veterans with historic increases in
funding to provide them the health care and benefits they earned when
they put on our nation's uniform."

Take Action: Tell your public officials how you feel about this issue.

Bill to Improve Care

Responding to shabby outpatient treatment of wounded soldiers at
Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Washington, D.C., a group of U.S.
senators moved June 13 to boost disability pay to those hurt in combat
and improve care for brain injury. The measure would also expand
medical care and counseling to family members and require better
cooperation to end red tape for disabled service members moving from
Pentagon care to that provided by the VA.

The measure would boost military severance pay for those rated with
less than 30 percent disability and eliminate the current requirement
that severance pay be deducted from disability pay. It would also set
up Pentagon pilot programs that would give the VA a greater role in
the evaluation system, a major shift in how benefits are
administered.

To learn more, read the full article online at Military.com.

Take Action: Tell your public officials how you feel about this issue.

George W. Reilly can be reached at VeteransColumn@xxxxxxxxxxx or by
writing to The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, R.I.
02902.

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Copyright 2007 Providence Journal. All opinions expressed in this
article are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of
Military.com.

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