[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 12 (Tuesday, February 8, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E184-E185]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               VETERANS BENEFITS CUTS AND BUDGET PROPOSAL

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 8, 2005

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, is nothing sacred in this Administration's 
budget? At a time when our greatest generation is relying more and more 
on the VA to provide health services and our newest veterans are 
returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House is proposing to 
slash their benefits and force them to pay ever increasing premiums. 
What happened to keeping promises to our nation's veterans?
  With the constantly rising cost of health care, the proposed funding 
falls well short of what is needed for our veterans. These veterans 
paid their service to our Nation and they earned a lifetime of health 
care coverage--we promised it to them. Now, as the President wants to 
spend trillions of dollars to privatize Social Security, he also wants 
to break that promise and make veterans pay for their healthcare again!
  The absurdity of this would be laughable if it weren't such a serious 
and disturbing proposal.
  Thomas P. Cadmus, the National Commander of the American Legion sees 
and understands the absurdity of this as well. He said, and I quote:
  ``It is incomprehensible that our veterans will pay for the shortfall 
in VA health-care funding from their own pockets as tax dollars flow 
out the back door of America.''
  And these tax dollars aren't just flowing out the back door of 
America in additional foreign aid funding, they are also flowing out 
the front door in the form of tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent 
of our Nation.
  We have the money to keep our promise to our veterans and I urge the 
White House to reevaluate the budget and make the changes needed to 
reinforce the promise to our veterans.
  I am also enclosing a press release from The American Legion which I 
submit for the Record to accompany my remarks.

 Legion Leader Says Proposed Budget Reaches Deep Into Veterans' Pockets

       WASHINGTON, February 7, 2005.--The leader of the nation's 
     largest military veterans organization reacted strongly to 
     the effects that President Bush's budget plan will have on 
     veterans. He called it a smoke screen to raise revenue at the 
     expense of veterans.
       ``This is not acceptable,'' said Thomas P. Cadmus, national 
     commander of the 2.7 million-member American Legion. ``It's 
     nothing more than a health care tax designed to increase 
     revenue at the expense of veterans who served their 
     country.''
       Cadmus was referring to the portion of the proposed budget 
     that would double the co-payment charge to many veterans for 
     prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new fee of 
     $250 a year to use their own their own health care system.
       ``Is the goal of these legislative initiatives to drive 
     those veterans paying for their health care away from the 
     system designed to serve veterans?'' Cadmus asked. ``The 
     President is asking Congress to make `health care poaching' 
     legal in the world's largest health care delivery system.''
       ``When the President first came to Washington, among his 
     first official acts was to triple the prescription co-payment 
     from $2 to $7,'' Cadmus said. ``Once again, the President 
     wants to double the co-payment and fortunately, Congress has 
     wisely rejected that proposal. Making veterans pay for timely 
     access to quality health care is wrong.''
       This is the third year in a row the President has attempted 
     to establish an enrollment fee for those veterans making co-
     payments and third-party reimbursements to the VA.
       ``Many of these veterans are Medicare-eligible and already 
     paying the federal government for their part A and B 
     coverage, so why should they have to pay an additional 
     enrollment fee? VA can't even bill Medicare,'' Cadmus said. 
     ``Other veterans with private health insurance make co-
     payments and then VA is reimbursed for services. Again, why 
     should they be forced to pay an additional $250 to go to VA 
     medical facilities?''
       ``During my visits to VA hospitals, I have not run into 
     Bill Gates, Donald Trump, or Ross Perot seeking care. I see 
     mostly veterans--many on small fixed incomes--trying to make 
     ends meet and exercising their very best health care 
     option.'' Cadmus observed.
       ``Veterans' health care is an ongoing expense of war,'' he 
     added. ``You don't thank veterans for serving their country 
     and then tell them, `By the way, better not get wounded or 
     you'll have to pay extra for your health care.' This is 
     offensive to every veteran in America. That is why this 
     government must move VA health care out from under the 
     umbrella of discretionary spending to mandatory spending,'' 
     Cadmus stressed.
       The American Legion has requested a $3.5 billion increase 
     in health care spending in FY 2006. The President is 
     proposing $9.5 billion in foreign aid, about $2.1 billion 
     more than the current level.
       ``As young Americans in uniform battle terrorism in Iraq 
     and Afghanistan, as well as 119 other countries, it is 
     incomprehensible that our veterans will pay for the shortfall 
     in VA health care funding from their own pockets as tax 
     dollars flow out the back door of America,'' Cadmus said.
       ``We reminded the President of our position on veterans' 
     health care needs during his campaign and I personally 
     testified on the issue on Capitol Hill last September,'' 
     Cadmus added. ``Our budget request is very realistic when you 
     consider the Secretary has slammed the door in the face of 
     hundreds of thousands of veterans eligible, but currently 
     forbidden from seeking quality care from VA.''
       ``The current appropriations process is broken and is not 
     adequately funding VA medical care,'' Cadmus said. 
     ``President George W. Bush's Task Force to Improve Health 
     Care Delivery for Our Nation's Veterans on May 26, 2003, 
     identified the mismatch between demand and funding as a major 
     obstacle in meeting the nation's commitment to veterans. The 
     American Legion and nine other veterans' organizations 
     believe the answer lies in changing VA health care funding 
     from discretionary to mandatory appropriation.''
       ``No active-duty service member in harm's way should ever 
     have to question the nation's commitment to veterans. This is 
     the wrong message at the wrong time to the wrong 
     constituency.

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