FY 2004 Budget Resolution 18 March 2003

[Espier13 at aol.com]

*********************CLUMITES*********************

18 MARCH 2003
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By Laura Certano
TkMe2Rm at aol.com
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Humanize  the earth
all over the world.
============================
Fy 2004 Budget Resolution


These Republican's think that they can do anything they want to the
previous disabled American veterans of this country.  The callous justice
of our government to defy our veterans in a time when we prepare for just
another war.  Does the Bush Empire realize their mistake?  Only the wealthy
will benefit from this 10 year tax cut, not the middle-class or poor.  May
God help this administration and the Republican Party?
Laura


M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Action E-List Members
FROM: Joseph A. Violante, National Legislative Director
SUBJ: URGENT! IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED!
DATE: March 17, 2003
Having learned more details about the devastating effect of the budget
resolution on veterans' programs, we are providing you with additional
information. Included is a copy of DAV National Commander Heath's letter to
Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert and a news release from Congressman
Lane Evans, Ranking Democratic Member of the House Veterans' Affairs
Committee. You may send your own letter to the Speaker of the House from
the DAV website at www.dav.org. Click on "Legislative Action & You," then
"Advocacy in Action," then click on the alert entitled "House Budget
Resolution Will Slash $9.7 Billion from Veterans Medical Care and $15
Billion from Disability Compensation and Other Benefit Programs." Enter
your zip code in the box provided. It is important for you to send this
message today because the entire House will likely vote on this resolution
as early as Wednesday, March 19, 2003.
JOSEPH A. VIOLANTE
National Legislative Director
______________________________________________________________
March 17, 2003
VIA FACSIMILE
The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert
Speaker of the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
H-232 Capitol Building
Washington, DC 20515-6501
Dear Mr. Speaker:
I write today on behalf of the 2.3 million disabled veterans, including the
more than 1.2 million members of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), to
communicate our deep-seated outrage regarding the fiscal year 2004 budget
adopted by the House Budget Committee, which would cut veterans programs by
more than $15 billion during the next 10 years.
Has Congress no shame? Is there no honor left in the hallowed halls of our
government that you choose to dishonor the sacrifices of our nation's
heroes and rob our programs-health care and disability compensation-to pay
for tax cuts for the wealthy? You will be reducing benefits and services
for disabled veterans at a time when thousands of our servicemembers are in
harm's way fighting terrorists around the world and thousands more of our
sons and daughters are preparing for war against Iraq.
The budget adopted by the Committee, on a nearly party-line vote, would
reduce funding for veterans health care by $844 million below the
President's recommendation for next year. It also proposes to cut $463
million from benefit programs, such as disability compensation, pension,
vocational rehabilitation, education and survivors' benefits, next year and
$15 billion over the next 10 years. The budget proposal is in distinct
contrast to the recommendations made by the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
to increase discretionary programs, such as veterans health care, by $3
billion to help ensure that our nation's sick and disabled veterans can be
cared for properly.
Mr. Speaker, you are personally aware of the crisis in veterans health care
and the urgent need to adequately fund the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) health care system. If you, in your leadership role in the House,
allow this budget proposal to pass the House without exempting VA programs
from the massive cuts, it could mean the loss of 19,000 nurses, equating to
the loss of 6.6 million outpatient visits or more than three-quarters of a
million hospital bed days. But that is not all of the devastation that will
be caused by the proposed cuts. You will be reaching into the pockets of
our nation's service-connected veterans, including combat disabled
veterans, and robbing them and their survivors of a portion of their
compensation. Ninety percent of VA's mandatory spending is from cash
payments to service-connected disabled veterans, low-income wartime
veterans, and their survivors.
As hundreds of thousands of America's brave young men and women await the
uncertainties brought on by war, including the potential of biological and
chemical attacks at the hand of a fanatical tyrant, they should not have to
also be concerned about the discouraging possibilities of a Department of
Veterans Affairs that cannot provide either the necessary services or
benefits they have earned and might need. Nor should World War II veterans,
the "Greatest Generation," now in their twilight years, who are directly
responsible for the freedom and prosperity of our nation, be forced out of
a system designed specifically to provide for their needs.
All eyes will be on the critical action of the House this week as you vote
on the budget. With America's sons and daughters prepared to do battle with
the enemies of our country, and our veterans locked in battles over the
crisis in VA health care and drastic cuts to our programs, the American
public will want to know whether our government will honor its commitment
to our veterans and to their children-our future veterans-serving in harm's
way.
There is no question that the vote on the proposed budget is an important
vote, one that will set the tone for the remainder of this Congress, and
likely the next Congress.
Mr. Speaker, this budget dishonors the service of millions of
service-connected disabled veterans, including combat disabled veterans,
and seriously erodes the nation's commitment to care for its defenders. If
this budget resolution retains provisions to cut veterans' programs, I will
use all the resources at my disposal to take our case to the American
people and call upon members of Congress to oppose and vote against the
budget resolution. I urge you to reconsider the inequitable and ill-advised
course proposed in the Committee's partisan budget proposal. I look to you,
in your leadership position, to ensure that this Congress honors our
government's commitment to its veterans.
Sincerely,
EDWARD R. HEATH, SR.
National Commander
_______________________________________________________________
NEWS FROM CONGRESSMAN LANE EVANS, RANKING DEMOCRATIC MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON
VETERANS' AFFAIRS, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Room 333 Cannon HOB, Washington, DC 20515
FOR RELEASE: March 13, 2003
For More Information, Contact: Susan Edgerton or Mary Ellen McCarthy
(202) 225-9756
VETERANS PROGRAMS SLASHED BY HOUSE REPUBLICANS
Budget Committee Blueprint Cuts Veterans Health Care and Other Benefits by
Nearly $25 Billion
Congressman Lane Evans (D-IL), the Ranking Democratic Member of the House
Veterans Affairs Committee, today said the budget adopted by the House
Budget Committee would mean drastic reductions in funding for veterans'
benefits and services. Evans called the budget "shameful" and pledged to
fight to defeat the Republic budget blueprint. Referring to the more than a
trillion dollars worth of tax cuts approved by the Budget Committee, Evans
asked, "Who deserves to receive the benefits of the national
treasury-America's disabled veterans or America's millionaires?"
The Republican majority of the House Budget Committee approved a federal
budget reducing funding for veterans health care and benefit programs by
nearly $25 billion. The proposed budget cut $844 million from the
President's request for veterans' health care next year. Over a ten-year
period the GOP is proposing a cut of $9.7 billion in veterans' health
care-an average of more than $900 million less than the President has
proposed per year. For other veterans' benefits, including cash payments to
veterans disabled by military service, the Republican budget calls for a
$463 million cut during the next year and a $15 billion cut in spending
from current levels during the next ten years. The House Budget Committee
is chaired by Congressman Jim Nussle (R-IA).
By a nearly party-line vote of 22-19, Republicans defeated an amendment
offered by Democratic Representatives Darlene Hooley, Tammy Baldwin, Dennis
Moore, Chet Edwards, Bruce Scott, Lois Capps, and Artur Davis that would
have restored the proposed $844 million for veterans health care and added
a billion dollars to the VA's budget for discretionary programs. These cuts
are made to a budget that already relies upon $1.1 billion in vaguely
defined management efficiencies and $1.4 billion in mostly unpalatable
legislative and policy proposals already included in the President's
budget. The amendment would also have restored the Budget Committee's
proposed $463 million in cuts to veterans' benefits. Only Republican Ginny
Brown-Waite, a member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, crossed party
lines to vote for increased funding for veterans.
In sharp contrast to Nussle's proposal, a bipartisan recommendation from
Chairman Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and Democratic Ranking Member Lane Evans
(D-IL) on behalf of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, would have added $3
billion next year for veteran discretionary programs including medical care
and research, construction and programs that fund the administrative costs
of other important benefits such as compensation, pension and education
programs.
What would $1.844 billion mean to veterans health care?
· Congress would have to seriously consider the new copayments and
enrollment fees proposed by the Bush Administration in order to keep the
system operating in the next fiscal year. This means:
§ New priority 8 veterans would remain ineligible for VA services indefinitely
§ Priority 7 and 8 veterans would have an annual enrollment fee in addition
to increased copayments for pharmaceutical drugs and primary care
§ Only veterans with highly rated service connected disabilities (greater
than 70%) would be eligible for placement in VA nursing homes. This would
eliminate the need for 5000 nursing home beds from the system.
o In year one VA may have to disenroll at least 168,000 veterans.
o There would be no additional funds available to implement the Homeless
Veterans Comprehensive Assistance Act to work toward the goal of
eliminating chronic homelessness in a decade.
o The current Capital Assets Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES)
exercise that VA is undertaking to assess the best use of its physical
infrastructure will become a "de facto" closure commission with no ability
to respond to veterans' needs for primary care, long-term care, and mental
health projected by its own models.
o $1.844 billion =
§ about 9,000 doctors or 19,000 nurses
§ about 6.6 million outpatient visits
§ 870,000 hospital bed days of care
§ 2 million psychiatric bed days of care
§ 9 million nursing home bed days of care
§ all of VA's top-twenty priorities major construction projects (totaling
about $600 million) which include desperately needed seismic and
modernization projects and projects to ensure patient and employee safety
What would $463 million cuts in mandatory spending mean to veterans benefits?
§ Congress would have to seriously cut the benefits paid to men and women
who are disabled as a result of military service. Cash benefits paid to
veterans who have disabilities incurred or aggravated during military
service comprise the vast majority of VA's budget for mandatory programs.
Ninety percent of the mandatory spending the Budget Committee proposes to
cut is from cash payments to service disabled veterans, low-income wartime
veterans and their survivors.
§ Other programs funded with mandatory spending are the Montgomery G.I.
Bill education benefits, vocational rehabilitation and independent living
programs for service-disabled veterans, subsidies for VA home loans and
insurance for service-disabled veterans and funds to provide headstones,
markers and flags for deceased veterans.
§ Even if all burial benefits, including flags and markers were eliminated
to meet the Budget Committee resolution, funding for benefits for living
veterans would need to be dramatically cut.
§ Last year the cost-of living increase paid to service-disabled veterans
was only 1.4%. In order to meet the Budget Committee criteria the House
Committee on Veterans Affairs could propose a cost-of living decrease of
1.4% and no increase for FY 2004.
As our Nation stands on the verge of war, certain to result in disability
and death for young Americans, the Budget Committee's proposal requires the
House Committee on Veterans Affairs to make permanent cuts in the benefits
paid to those disabled by virtue of their service to our Nation. These cuts
must be made, so that our government can afford to provide a tax cut which
will benefit only the wealthiest Americans, many of whom have never served
in the military.
In contrast, Democrats proposed to restore the "Nussle" cut for benefits
and health care and add $1 billion to the VA health care budget to
eliminate the need for increased copayments, assist VA in eliminating
waiting times, restore VA's nursing home care mission and provide a small
boost to address the queue of VA major construction projects that include
seismic projects and other projects that will assure patient and employee
safety

Laura Certano
Colorado Springs Colorado