Veterans find honor with President Obama signs advance VA funding into law

If you are not a veteran then you may have a hard time understanding how important this step is. For far too long, the veterans were pretty much the last item on the budget to take care of. Considering they are a minority in this country, they never really received enough attention when every interest group has their hand out looking for funding. With the veterans, the difference is that they were the first ones to respond to the nation's hand held out looking for defense and security. We were the first ones with our hands out to them looking for help after disasters as well but they were the last ones we managed to take care of. This tells them finally they matter when they need us as much as when we need them.

Obama signs advance VA funding into law

Staff report
Posted : Thursday Oct 22, 2009 16:14:12 EDT

Veterans advocacy groups saw several years of work come to fruition Thursday when President Barack Obama signed into law a bill that provides funding for the Veterans Affairs Department one year in advance.

The Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act aims to protect veterans medical programs from interruptions in funding when Congress is late passing a budget bill — as it has been for 20 of the last 23 years.

“Today is a victory for all the veterans organizations ... who fought for years for reform,” Obama said as he signed the bill.

He said the new law is “commonsense reform” that “promotes accountability at the VA.”

“With this legislation, politics can no longer stand in the way of VA funding, and VA Secretary [Eric] Shinseki is more effectively set up for success,” Rieckhoff said, adding that Congress’ most recent failure to pass a budget on time “further illustrates the need for advanced appropriations. ... Veterans deserve better than late budgets and month-to-month planning.”

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Obama signs advance VA funding into law