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Vets groups urge Bush to OK extra VA funds

Several military service organization officials fear that because of some last-minute budgetary wrangling, $3.7 billion promised to the Department of Veterans Affairs health care program might not make it into the coffers.

Ten organizations have written a letter to President Bush asking him to sign an emergency designation to approve the funds immediately.

When Congress rolled a number of appropriations bills into one massive omnibus “Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008,” it included extra funds for VA that Bush had already said he would approve. Congress added the money — $3.7 billion more than Bush asked for in his 2008 VA budget proposal — because VA still has a backlog of 600,000 pending benefits claims and needs to hire and train people to process those cases, said Dave Autry, spokesman for Disabled American Veterans. The money would also go toward medical research for conditions such as traumatic brain injuries.

Under provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, Bush must sign off the emergency designation for VA by Jan. 18 for VA to receive the funds — and the veterans’ groups are concerned that he may renege on his earlier commitment.

“It’s $3.7 billion more than he asked for,” Autry said.

Representatives of the 10 veteran’s groups say the money is needed sooner rather than later. Three months into the new fiscal year, VA hasn’t been able to spend money on hiring or training new adjudicators to tackle the claims backlog.

“It’s a serious concern,” he said. “Congress has decided VA needs this money. We’ve had years and years of delayed appropriations. You can’t plan ahead this way.”

VA and Congress have wrestled with the issue for years, with Congress having to award emergency appropriations to VA for the past three years. But during hearings in the fall, VA representatives insisted they didn’t need more money than Bush asked for.

But in those same hearings, they couldn’t account for why VA still has such a large benefits claims backlog — with some veterans waiting months for their benefits, and even years if they file appeals of initial decisions. Critics also say VA continues to have issues with waiting times for doctors’ appointments, and note that VA and the Defense Department still don’t have an interchangeable medical record system, despite years of hearings on that issue.

“We believe VA’s inability to effectively resolve this [claims] backlog relates at least in part to chronic shortages of financial resources provided to the Veterans Benefits Administration,” states the letter from the 10 veteran’s groups. “The VA health care system in particular requires additional funding to meet the needs of an aging generation of veterans, many of whom are disabled war veterans relying on VA health care because they have no alternative.”

The letter also invoked the needs of the thousands of veterans wounded more recently in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The groups signing the letter are The American Legion, Blinded Veterans Association, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, Military Order of the Purple Heart of the USA, Inc., Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Jewish War Veterans of the USA, Paralyzed Veterans of America and Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc.

DISCUSS: Is there enough clout to see this through?