Feb. 3, 2007
 
Jay Calls for 'Essential' Increase in Veterans Affairs Appropriations
 
By HNN Staff, from Rockefeller press release
 
Washington, DC (HNN) – Concerned about the amount of funding set aside for the Department of Veterans Affairs health care (VA) in the President’s fiscal year 2008 Budget, U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller D-WV, encouraged the Administration to remember that supporting the troops does not stop when they return from war.
 
“This Administration has consistently failed to meet the financial requirements of the VA,” said Rockefeller. “When I’m home in West Virginia, I often meet privately with veterans and hear their needs first-hand. And we, as a nation, have an obligation to meet those needs.”
 
“Both Congress and the President have a duty to make our veterans our primary concern,” Rockefeller continued. “More and more soldiers are serving and returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, veterans of past conflicts are aging and requiring additional care, and health care costs continue to rise. All of this amounts to a pressing need for more VA funding.”
 
In the past few years, the VA has suffered from a number of miscalculations and roadblocks that have shortchanged VA health care and caused delays in important services. Two years ago, the VA budget was over a billion dollars short and required a supplemental grant because the Bush Administration planned the cost of expenditures without considering Iraq veterans and miscalculated the costs of long-term care for older veterans. Once the VA Secretary honestly testified to the real funding needs, Congress filled the gap swiftly.
 
VA was again disadvantaged when the last Congress adjourned without completing the necessary appropriations bill for most domestic programs including VA. Currently, Congress is proposing a continuing resolution to fund the rest of the year with a $3.6 billion increase over 2006 spending for VA health care.
 
“We owe our deepest gratitude to those brave men and women who have served in our Armed Forces. Yet, our debt to them must go beyond an appreciation for their acts and include a heartfelt commitment to provide them with the very best health care available.”
 
“The President did not give veterans the attention they deserve in his State of the Union Speech,” Rockefeller added. “Supporting the troops doesn’t just mean while they are currently deployed. It means keeping your promise of health care even after they’ve left the battlefield. I hope that the President treats our vets as a priority and not an afterthought when he offers his Budget. It will be a great opportunity for him to finally match his promises with meaningful actions.”