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VSOs GO AFTER REP. STEVE BUYER ON MANDATORY
FUNDING
STATEMENT -- House Vets' Chair has said that
mandatory funding
is an "inferior approach to funding." Nine VSOs
strike back with,
“The discretionary budget has become highly
politicized and
puts at risk the VA health care system and its
patient population."
On October 20 of this year, Rep. Steve
Buyer (R-IN), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, used
his office to post a blatantly political, and patently false, press
release.
That press release is here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/
housecvanews/housecvanews10-20-06.htm
In the release, Buyer claimed that a
"Pelosi majority" in the House would effectively ruin VA healthcare by
passing Full and Mandatory Funding of VA Healthcare.
While Buyer tried to make this a
political point, he forgot that the veterans' service organizations are
in favor of mandatory funding.
Now, the VSOs are striking back at his
ridiculous statement.
Nine VSOs have written Buyer a letter and
issued a statement regarding his assertions.
VSO story here...
http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=news.newsDtl&did=3652
Both of these should be read in
full...first to see how ridiculous Buyer's arguments are...and then to
see how solid the arguments of the VSOs are.
The VSOs did not enter into the political
arguments offered by Buyer, but they did point out that the VA budget
process had, indeed, become political.
In short...Buyer is wrong, again, and is
standing in the way of adequate veterans' funding...and the VSOs are
right.
Below you will find Buyer's press release
followed by the VSOs statement.
---------------
P R E S S R E L E A S E
Friday October 20, 2006
Pelosi Majority would abandon system that provided strong veterans
budgets, premier health care and effective oversight
Washington, D.C. — Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Steve Buyer
(R-Ind.) today warned that a Pelosi leadership of the House would likely
abandon the successful funding approach that has nearly doubled veterans
health care spending and empowered oversight of the Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA).
“VA health care is considered top-quality care and it got there through
strong discretionary budgets during the past ten years of Republican
leadership,” said Buyer. “Since becoming the majority party in 1995,
Republicans have nearly doubled veterans’ funding and increased access
to VA health care.”
House Democrats would favor a system of inflexible mandatory funding for
veterans’ health care, which is less able to respond to unforeseen
spending requirements. A rigid mandatory funding formula also reduces
the oversight clout of Congress and removes a major incentive for VA to
perform efficiently, let alone make improvements.
This inferior approach to funding would, according to the Congressional
Budget Office, cost taxpayers half a trillion dollars over ten years,
while putting hard-won quality gains at risk.
“The media has recognized what veterans already know: VA health care,
under Republican budgets, is high quality health care,” Buyer said,
referring to recent coverage that includes articles in Time Magazine and
BusinessWeek. “It was flexible, discretionary funding that corrected a
budget shortfall last year. It was the power of Congressional oversight
that got the budget process reformed, resulting in the strong Fiscal
Year 2007 VA budget.”
In contrast, under the weak funding and complacent oversight of the
House Democratic majority during the decades spanning the Vietnam War
through Operation Desert Storm, veterans suffered neglect revealed in
the movies, Coming Home and Born on the Fourth of July. According to
BusinessWeek, the movies accurately portrayed VA hospitals as “festering
sinkholes of substandard care.”
Showing the priority of veterans’ funding under the Republican majority,
VA’s discretionary budget increase for FY 2007 was exceeded only by the
Defense Department. In this time of war, virtually all other federal
agencies were either flat-lined or got budget cuts.
Veterans who need VA are getting the care they earned through their
service. Over 90 percent of patients seeking primary and specialty care
get their appointments within 30 days of the date they desire. The
system, which has seen unprecedented funding increases since 1995, is
working.
In the past decade, access to VA health care has dramatically improved
with the opening of enrollment in 1996 and a massive expansion of the
number of outpatient clinics (now nearly 900). Holding down costs to the
veteran, House Republicans have refused health care enrollment fees for
veterans, eliminated copays for preventative care visits and reduced
them for non-service-connected primary health care visits.
In contrast, even the late Rep. Sonny Montgomery (D-Miss.), the author
of the highly successful Montgomery GI Bill and known by all as “Mr.
Veteran,” was unable to get education benefit increases for veterans
from his own Democrat majority when he was committee chairman. Those
significant increases came under the Republican majority.
“Republican leadership has made all the difference for veterans,” said
Buyer.
---------------
Budget Reform Needed for Veterans Health Care
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2, 2006--A coalition of national veterans service
organizations has again called on House Veterans’ Affairs Committee
Chairman Steve Buyer (R-Ind.) to schedule hearings on legislation that
would replace the current discretionary funding mechanism that puts
patients at risk and makes it impossible for the Department of Veterans
Affairs (VA) to operate effectively.
The nine organizations that make up the Partnership for Veterans Health
Care Budget Reform have long sought congressional hearings to explore
ways to guarantee full funding for veterans health care, but those
requests have not been honored. The latest request for hearings was made
in a Nov. 1 letter taking issue with Rep. Buyer’s recent assertion that
the current discretionary appropriations process has been a “successful
funding approach” to meeting the health care needs of America’s sick and
disabled veterans.
“The discretionary budget has become highly politicized and puts at risk
the VA health care system and its patient population. In the past 12
years,” the Partnership letter noted, “Congress has completed only one
regular VA appropriations bill by the start of the new fiscal year.
Unfortunately, the norm has become a series of continuing resolutions
each year that funds VA at the previous year’s level, holding down
spending and finally lumping VA’s budget into an omnibus spending bill.”
“This annual limbo hinders effective staffing decisions, construction
planning, and day-to-day management by VA leaders. Additionally, VA
funding growth has not nearly kept pace with its patient workload
demands,” the letter said. “A method of assured funding, such as H.R.
515 (Assured Funding for Veterans Health Care Act), would eliminate the
year-to-year uncertainty about funding levels. Annual fiscal turbulence
rarely occurs in comparable mandatory spending programs. It is blatantly
unrealistic to expect VA to manage efficiently and carry out its
missions expertly without knowing what its projected budget will be or
when funds will be approved.”
Chairman Buyer has said that mandatory funding is an “inferior approach
to funding” and that Congress would lose its “oversight clout” of the VA
health care system under a mandatory funding mechanism. However, the
Partnership believes that guaranteed funding would simply ensure that VA
is provided the necessary resources to care for the enrolled patient
population.
The Partnership letter also noted that all other mandatory programs
still receive congressional oversight. “We would expect your Committee
to hold VA accountable for how it spends every dollar and how well VA
manages its health care programs.”
Each organization in the Partnership has approved resolutions that
support guaranteed funding for veterans’ health care.
The Partnership for Veterans Health Care Budget Reform includes Veterans
of Foreign Wars of the United States, the American Legion, AMVETS,
Blinded Veterans Association, Disabled American Veterans, Jewish War
Veterans of the USA, Military Order of the Purple Heart of the U.S.A,
Paralyzed Veterans of America, and Vietnam Veterans of America.
---------------
Larry Scott
