Fiscal Cliff Fallout to Hit VA

The Republicans in Congress have already proven they are more interested in protecting the wealthiest among Americans but they seem to be not interested in protecting the ones that do protect all Americans.

Every time they've held up budget deals it has been tied to tax cuts for the wealthy. They are still doing it no matter what the American people voted for. While the VA is protected, the troops are not and this will end up hurting them no matter how you look at it.

Fiscal Cliff Fallout to Hit VA
Dec 06, 2012
Military.com
by Richard Sisk

The Department of Veteran Affairs would take a major hit if Congress is forced to enact the sequestration cuts despite President Obama's pledge to exempt the department's budget, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said Thursday.

"If [Defense Secretary Leon Panetta] is concerned about dealing with issues of sequestration, I am concerned as well" regardless of the exemption pledge, Shinseki said at a joint news briefing with Panetta.

Although the VA's budget would be spared, Shinseki said across-the-board cuts on defense would be felt immediately at the VA in programs to ease the transition out of the military, and in efforts to clear up the backlog of VA disability claims.

The VA has processed more than one million claims for the past three years, but the backlog has continued to grow. In September, the average wait to have a claim addressed was eight months, and a total of nearly 900,000 pension and compensation claims were pending.

"There's no question that if sequestration happens there will be an impact on those (servicemembers) coming home," Panetta said of VA benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan troops leaving the military. "It is going to have a serious impact."
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The really crazy part is I've read more about millionaires and billionaires saying they care more about the country and less about tax cuts they really don't need. Too bad some in Congress won't listen to them either.