"Appalling" Veterans Funding Shortfall

“Today’s announcement by the VA is appalling, but not surprising. Caring for the veterans who have sacrificed for our freedom is the duty of a grateful nation. These brave men and women made a solemn promise to protect our nation. Unfortunately, this Administration has been unwilling to fulfill that promise.”
– Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), member, Veterans Affairs

Ranking minority member Daniel Akaka (D-Hi.) joined seven colleagues — including Sen. Larry Craig (R-Ida.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and Sen. Murray — in response to “the recent admission by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), that it is at least $1 billion short on health care funding.”

The “VA has raided its emergency and construction accounts for next year,” states Sen. Akaka, “to make up for this year’s deficits, in order to try and keep pace with demand.”

Sen. Murray accuses the Administration and Dept. of Veterans Affairs of “either deliberate misdirection or gross incompetence.”

Just two months ago, they vehemently argued against the need for more money, raising loud, consistent objections to my efforts on the Budget and the Emergency Supplemental. Two months later, they’re one billion dollars short. That’s outrageous.

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The U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs issued this press release today, along with an official press announcement by seven members of the committee [PHOTO BELOW]:

PHOTO: U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, chairman, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 23, 2005. Looking on from right are: Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash.; Ken Salazar, D-Colo.; and John Rockefeller, D-W.Va. Man at left is unidentified. (AP Photo/Yuri Gripas)

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Craig Says VA Needs More Than One Billion More Than Projected for 2006

(Washington, DC) U.S. Senator Larry Craig, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, reacted quickly today after learning that a mid-year review of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ budget revealed that the agency will need another billion dollars for 2006. Craig said the committee will hold a hearing on this next week.

“I was on the phone this morning with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson letting him know that I am not pleased that this has happened. I am certain that he is going to take serious steps to ensure that this type of episode is not repeated,” said Craig, who less than two months ago fought for and won an additional $410 million over the Department’s budget request for medical care, bringing the yearly increase to $1.2 billion.

“I have met with members of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs committee and other Senate leaders about this situation. None of us are happy that this happened,” Craig said.

According to senior VA finance officials, the VA is now meeting the health care needs of veterans by using approximately $600 million originally budgeted for capital infrastructure projects and drawing on approximately $400 million that was originally budgeted for carry-over into next year’s budget.

“When I made the argument for the additional funding, I was assured by the Department that the $410 million in additional money was sufficient to meet the needs of veterans. To find out so soon afterward that I was supplied with inaccurate or dated information is extremely frustrating,” Craig said.

“The first thing for veterans to know is that they will continue to receive the same high quality care that they have been receiving. Secondly, we in Congress must fix this financial problem and I am confident that my colleagues and I will be able to do that. Finally, I will bring the VA in to explain why this happened, and work to ensure that this situation does not happen again.”

“The Chairman noted that the news has come just in the nick of time,” states the press release.

“The House has already passed its VA appropriations bill, which leaves the Senate as the only forum to have the debate on how to address this problem,” Craig said.

With a budget of approximately $70 billion, the $1 billion shortfall represents an error rate of approximately 1.5 percent.

So much for taking care of business. Not to mention taking care of the veterans, Mr. Bush and Chickenhawks Rove and Cheney.

Sen. Murray stated that today she “introduced legislation to provide emergency supplemental funding for the VA”:

It is identical to the amendment that I offered to the Emergency Supplemental in April to provide $1.98 billion to fully fund our veterans’ health care needs.

I urge the Administration to submit a supplemental request and fulfill the promise to our nation’s veterans.

In a statement today, AMVETS.org said, “Finally, somebody listened to us.”

The discovery [of the $1 billion shortfall], which came to light during a mid-year review of the VA budget, has prompted Committee Chairman Sen. Larry Craig (news, bio, voting record) (R-ID) to schedule a hearing on the matter next week.

Boettcher said the revelation doesn’t surprise him. “We already had been told by some VA officials that their equipment and maintenance accounts were being raided to replenish depleted healthcare accounts.” The AMVETS leader also cited news reports on VA facilities in Georgia, Colorado, Maine, Michigan and Pennsylvania that “provide clear evidence that VA is straining and failing to make ends meet.”

“I don’t want to say, ‘I told you so,’ but we feel vindicated, in a way,” said Boettcher, explaining that the veterans community has contended for years that VA was underfunded. …

For them: