Senator Murray Questions VA Secretary About 'Unacceptable' Budget

Senator Murray Questions VA Secretary About 'Unacceptable' Budget

Senator Patty Murray


Feb 14, 2008
February 13, 2008

One week before Murray brings Secretary Peake to Walla Walla, she asks for answers on lack of construction dollars and suicide prevention efforts.

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - U.S. Senator Patty Murray, a senior member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, today questioned VA Secretary James Peake about the President's deficit of dollars when it comes to caring for our nation's veterans.

Peake appeared before Murray's committee today to defend the President's VA budget and will accompany her to the Walla Walla VA Facility in Washington state next week.

"We know all too well what happens when the VA gets shortchanged. The men and women who have served us end up paying the biggest price," Murray said. "Our veterans are our heroes, and they deserve the best we can give them. I believe we can do a lot better than this budget."

In asking Peake about what the VA is doing to reach out to struggling veterans who may not know about VA resources available to them, Murray referenced a VA study that found that Guard or Reserve members accounted for 53 percent of the veteran suicides from 2001, when the war in Afghanistan began, through the end of 2005. The study was made public yesterday in an Associated Press story.

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http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/ArticleID/9356