Senator Scott Brown says "We should not be cutting veterans first"

Brown: No to health care cuts for vets
By Amber Parcher
The Daily Item

"After the war and everyone comes home, people tend to forget," Senator Scott Brown.

REVERE — U.S. Sen. Scott Brown spoke with North Shore area veterans Friday in Revere about his opposition to proposed defense budget cuts that would raise the price of health care for some veterans and their families.

Speaking at the Joseph Leon Mottolo Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in Revere, Brown said he'd rather cut his own staff's health care benefits before veterans on the military's health care plan, TRICARE, have to pay more in premiums and prescription co-pays.

"We should not be cutting veterans first when we could be doing so many other things" said Brown, himself an active member of the Massachusetts National Guard.

The controversy stems from a 2013 Defense Department budget that proposes millions of cuts to the military's health care system.

Many of the 50 or so North Shore veterans who gathered to hear him speak agreed that the cuts are inappropriate.

"I just want to make sure they don't balance the budget on the veterans' backs," said Joe Hickey, a Vietnam veteran and veteran's services officer in Everett.

Hickey said these cuts are symbolic of a society that tends to renege on its promises to those who fought for the country.
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