Department of Virginia

The government’s fiscal year began Oct. 1 and none of the 12 appropriations bills have been finished, to include the VA funding bill. The separate VA funding bills passed by the House in June and the Senate last month include a $4.4 billion dollar increase above last year’s levels with broad bipartisan support. However, the two bills have not been conference, so the VA for the eighth consecutive year began a new fiscal year without an approved budget.

The VA is operating on a continuing resolution at the previous fiscal year’s funding level – a level that is already inadequate and $4 billion less than what the House and Senate have determined the VA needs to provide sufficient resources for healthcare, to reduce the claims backlogs, research, and a host of other program enhancements and benefits. VA cannot afford to have any more delays in funding. Timely funding is needed. The VFW calls on Congress to end the political games and do what is right for this nation’s veterans, especially those wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We urge all VFW members, and all concerned veterans’ advocates to call your representatives and senators today and tell them to pass the VA budget. This nation’s 24 million veterans are looking to them to do the right thing.
For a list of senators by state: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
For a listing of House members by Zip Code: http://www.house.gov/writerep

2. Disability Benefits Commission Testifies

The members of the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission testified before the House Veterans Affairs Committee this week. Commission Chairman retired Army Lt. Gen. James Terry Scott, spoke on behalf of the Commission, which released its final report to the public last week. The Commission held hearings for more than two years on VA and DOD’s disability benefits systems. They were tasked to study a wide-array of issues with respect to disabled veterans, disabled servicemembers, their survivors and families. Throughout the hearing General Scott answered questions concerning the Commission’s recommendations on ways to reduce the unacceptable disability claims backlog and how to improve PTSD services for veterans.

The VFW applauded the commission’s work and its 113 recommendations, 14 of which were considered to be priorities. For more on the hearing visit the House VA website at: http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/. For the VFW Press release, go to: http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=news.newsDtl&did=4244. For the commission's 18-page executive summary and full report, go to: http://www.vetscommission.org/reports.asp.