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Sent in by Veterans News and Information Services
Major Veterans, Military Organizations Line Up Behind Committee
Increase for Veterans' Health Care
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A broad array of veterans and military organizations
have
lined up behind the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs' request for
increased funding in the fiscal year 2000 budget.
Responding to an Administration budget opposed by the entire veterans'
community, the Committee asked for enough money to restore and maintain
veterans' health care programs.
Organizations representing millions of veterans nationwide announced
their
support for an increase the Committee submitted as both justified and
passable.
The Budget Committee was considering Wednesday an increase of nearly $1
billion, an amount called "unprecedented" in recent decades. House
budget
staffers noted that veterans were one of the few national constituencies
to
receive a significant funding increase in the budget.
Several Committee members have lamented the disappearance of the
bipartisanship that always marked Committee business, saying the
Democrats'
bidding war for political gain was dividing both the Committee and the
veterans' service organizations.
"The President's budget request for VA in (fiscal year 2000) is
unquestionably inadequate to meet the growing demands for services and
programs provided by VA," wrote Harold "Butch" Miller, National
Commander of
The American Legion, the nation's largest veterans' organization.
Commander Miller thanked Committee Chairman Bob Stump (R-AZ) for his
"leadership in assuring that sufficient funds will be available for
veterans' health care." Miller also noted that Legion and Committee
recommendations for health care and overall spending were very close.
The Military Coalition, representing about five million current and
former
military personnel and their families and survivors, also pledged its
support for "swift passage" of increased funding. Member organizations
of
the Coalition sent Chairman Stump letters of support, including The
Retired
Enlisted Association, The Retired Officers Association, the Non
Commissioned
Officers Association, the Air Force Association, and the Fleet Reserve
Association.
The Committee's proposed increase "represents the largest increase in a
single year that NCOA can ever recall," wrote the NCOA's Richard Johnson
Jr., Executive Director of Government Affairs.
The full House is expected to vote on the overall budget before the
Easter
recess.
CONTACT: Dan Amon
(202) 225-3664
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