Bush ticks off veterans again with veto threat of what they need

Veterans Groups Appalled at White House Veto Threats


Last update: 10:16 a.m. EDT Aug. 1, 2008
WASHINGTON, Aug 01, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- A coalition representing millions of America's veterans today expressed outrage at a White House claim that Congress is overspending on veterans programs and has threatened to veto any of the remaining 11 spending bills that exceed the President's request unless Congress finds $2.9 billion in offsets elsewhere in the federal budget.

Under the fiscal year 2009 Military Construction-VA Appropriations bill, the Department of Veterans Affairs would receive $47.7 billion, which is $4.6 billion above the 2008 funding level and $2.9 billion more than the President requested.

As the House of Representatives prepared to debate the measure, the four Independent Budget veterans service organizations told Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that they "vigorously defend the crucial increases in VA funding" which the Administration has underfunded in its budget requests for the past several years.

In their July 31 letter to Speaker Pelosi, AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Veterans of Foreign Wars said, "This budget, a budget that intends to bind the wounds of war and to care for those who have worn the nation's uniform, should never be used as a political lever to force policies of one branch (of government) on the other."
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