posted on July 29, 2005 07:55:46 AM new
Well, well, well…the Department of Veterans Affairs has a fiscal 2005 budget deficit due to exploding health care costs.
Imagine that. A U.S. government agency spent more money than Congress and the president budgeted for. Oh, the humanity!
And whom would you suppose the left is blaming for this dastardly miscalculation?
CNN certainly found a culprit: '' 'This shortfall results from either deliberate misdirection or gross incompetence by this administration and the Department of Veteran Affairs,' said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington.''
Don’t you just love it when a member of Congress who likely has never voted against an appropriations bill or for a spending reduction refers to budget shortfalls as either being deliberate or indicative of gross incompetence? How does that pot refer to that kettle again?
Whatever, it appears that the U.S. government isn’t immune to rising health care costs, and like the rest of corporate America--as well as a large chunk of its citizens--didn’t properly budget for these increases.
Yet, what is truly fascinating is that this shortfall is estimated to be around $1 billion, which in the context of a federal budget with projected outlays of $2.479 trillion--and a newly revised $315 billion deficit of its own--doesn’t seem like much to squawk about.
But, that certainly won’t stop the president’s detractors.
The question, of course, is how accurate it is to blame this problem on the current administration. Could this be just another politically motivated attack similar to what Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was avowing last year during the campaign when he regularly suggested that President Bush was under-funding the Veterans Administration even though the facts proved otherwise?
Well, let’s take a look at the history of this government agency to see what the truth really is.
The Veterans Administration was created back in 1930 by Herbert Hoover to consolidate the veterans assistance programs overseen by the former U.S. Veterans’ Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department, and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
Then, in 1988, President Reagan created a new cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs that replaced the Veterans Administration beginning in March 1989.
As a result, in its current form, the VA is the second largest government agency behind the Department of Defense employing an astounding 218,000 people.
Yet, the data from the Office of Management and Budgets suggests that this agency has been dramatically under-funded for over five decades.
For instance, in 1947, the budget for veterans’ benefits and services was $6.344 billion. As amazing as it might seem, in Lyndon Johnson’s last budget in fiscal 1969, the VA received $7.670 billion--a shockingly low 21% increase in 22 years.
During this same period, the total spending by our federal government increased by 432%, which means that VA spending in the two plus decades following World War II--in the midst of the Korean and Vietnam wars--increased at only 4.8% the rate of the aggregate federal budget. Wow!
I guess presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson weren’t very big on veterans’ affairs. Or, could it have been the Democrat-controlled Congress during this period was blocking increases in VA spending?
Regardless, from 1969 through 2001, the budget for the VA went from $7.670 billion to $45 billion, a 486% increase while our total federal spending during the same period increased tenfold. As a result, the combined growth in the VA under presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, and Clinton was less than one half the rate of growth of the entire federal budget.
By contrast, under Bush 43, the VA budget has gone from $45 billion to $68 billion in fiscal 2005 representing a 51% increase during his first term. This compares to a 32% increase in the total federal budget during the same period.
This means that not only has this president been the first since World War II to increase VA spending at the rate of growth of the federal budget, he actually increased funding for this agency at 1.57 times that growth.
Yet, Senator Kerry last year repeatedly stated during the campaign that VA benefits had declined since Bush took office. And now that there is a budget shortfall due to spiraling health care costs, the left is once again suggesting to the American people that Bush is turning his back on America’s veterans.
Wouldn’t it be nice if the facts actually supported these assertions, or is that asking too much from our elected officials and their media minions?
About the Writer: Noel Sheppard is a business owner, economist, and writer residing in Northern California. Noel receives e-mail at [email protected].
A word to the wise ain't necessary, it's the stupid ones that need the advice."
- Bill Cosby
posted on July 29, 2005 11:10:08 AM new
VA MUST CHANGE ITS FUNDING FORMLUA
WASHINGTON (July 21, 2005) – Recent announcements that the Department of Veterans Affairs had underestimated their fiscal 2005 and 2006 health care budgets by billions came as no surprise to the four veterans’ service organizations who co-author The Independent Budget, now in its 19th edition.
Senior leaders from AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars were outspoken in their efforts to tell the administration and Congress that the VA’s funding formula was flawed, and even though The Independent Budget recommendations proved to be far more realistic than the administration’s, there’s no gloating — just concern
A lot of dollar signs are currently being tossed about between the administration and Congress, to the point where the final outcome remains uncertain, but one thing remains clear to those who research, analyze and write The Independent Budget: the VA must change the way it projects future health care needs.
Veterans’ groups are once again urging Congress to find a long-term solution to a funding crisis that continues to plague the VA, a solution that delivers funds on time to allow for long-term planning, and one that acknowledges the VA’s own estimate that it needs annual increases of 12 to 14 percent just to keep pace with inflation and other uncontrollable expenses.
The Independent Budget co-authors acknowledge that money isn't the only solution to the VA's problems, but they also know that the lack of proper funding creates far more problems throughout the entire system.
The current budget shortfall is causing VA medical centers and clinics across the country to take drastic measures to reach Sept. 30, the end of the federal government’s fiscal year. Some are shortening hours, not filling employee vacancies, or are not accepting new patients. Others have resorted to prescribing less expensive medications, or have replaced pricy, temporary staff with lower-paid, lesser skilled employees.
On a day the VA is celebrating as its 75th birthday, this budget belt-tightening is directly impacting its ability to provide timely, accessible and quality health care services to America’s veterans.
Prominently displayed outside the front entrance to their headquarters in Washington is the VA’s motto, a quote from Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address. It reads: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan.”
On behalf of the nation’s 25 million veterans, 2.2 million military members, and their families, The Independent Budget co-authors urge everyone in positions to effect change to remember Lincoln’s words.
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The Independent Budget provides the nation's decision-makers a veterans' perspective on federal spending and national policy priorities for veterans programs. These recommendations are well-considered policy and funding proposals based on the actual needs of the men and women these programs were created to serve. As a comprehensive, authoritative policy document, The Independent Budget focuses on funding recommendations for veterans’ health care, benefits delivery, medical facilities construction, veterans' cemeteries and other so-called discretionary programs that will be needed in the coming fiscal year. Congress is required by law to provide sufficient funds for compensation and pension payments and other mandatory spending, so The Independent Budget does not make specific recommendations for those programs.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
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President George Bush: "Over time the truth will come out."
President George Bush: "Our people are going to find out the truth, and the truth will say that this intelligence was good intelligence. There's no doubt in my mind."
Bush was right. The truth did come out and the facts are he misled Congress and the American people about the reasons we should go to war in Iraq.
The President requests a total of $70.8 billion, including collections, for the fiscal year 2006 veterans’ budget, an increase of $1.5 billion in budget authority. The President requests $37.4 billion for fiscal year 2006 in mandatory funding for veterans’ disability compensation, pension, education, vocational rehabilitation and employment, housing, life insurance, and burial programs. Discretionary programs would receive $33.4 billion, including $30.7 billion for veterans’ medical care. The President proposes an overall increase in discretionary budget authority of $880 million, including collections.
The Committee recommends for fiscal year 2006 an increase in discretionary funding for veterans’ health care funding of $317.2 million. The Committee believes an increase in this amount is warranted during the war on terror to ensure adequate health care and mental health services for returning servicemembers and a large population of aging veterans. This amount includes $293.5 million to continue the strong State-Federal cost sharing partnership which currently exists for State Nursing Homes; $215 million to offset a reduced estimate of achievable management efficiencies; and $202.3 million to allow a more balanced and equitable enrollment fee system that takes into account the priority of care as set forth by Congress, and to maintain the current prescription drug co-payment at $7. Further, the Committee recommends an increase in discretionary funding of $12.6 million for medical and prosthetic research projects, and an additional $45.6 million in minor construction to begin a five-year, $300 million National Shrine Commitment project to repair and restore existing national cemeteries. The Committee recommends an increase in mandatory funding of $117 million that also allows a more balanced and equitable enrollment fee system and the current prescription drug co-payment amount. The total mandatory and discretionary budget increase for fiscal year 2006 recommended by the Committee is $434.2 million.
Absolute faith has been shown, consistently, to breed intolerance. And intolerance, history teaches us, again and again, begets violence.
----------------------------------
President George Bush: "Over time the truth will come out."
President George Bush: "Our people are going to find out the truth, and the truth will say that this intelligence was good intelligence. There's no doubt in my mind."
Bush was right. The truth did come out and the facts are he misled Congress and the American people about the reasons we should go to war in Iraq.
posted on July 29, 2005 11:29:03 AM new
Yes, the neocons want to blame everything and everybody but the Bush War and Bush himself who SHOULD be at the forefront of the fight for veterans welfare.....where's the leader of our country when the vets need him......not mentioning them at all...
... to Bush and the neocons our wounded veterans are just "collateral damage".
After all they didn't HAVE to join the armed forces so let them fend for themselves and quit bothering the righties....they're too busy waving the flag!
Used and abused by the very people who say they support them.
