[Vision2020] Lawmaker's Plan Limits Impact of Veterans' Groups onBudget

[Matt Decker]

If this is true, what an outrage. Lets just hope that this and future 
administrastions have a better understanding of what all veterans have done 
for this great country.


>From: "Tom Hansen" <thansen at moscow.com>
>To: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: [Vision2020] Lawmaker's Plan Limits Impact of Veterans' Groups 
>onBudget
>Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 11:57:51 -0800
>
> >From the December 12, 2005 edition of the Army Times (www.ArmyTimes.com)
>with a very special vote of gratitude to Alex Keenan, retired command 
>master
>chief petty officer.
>
>For a long, long time major veterans' groups were permitted to address 
>house
>and senate budget committees concerning items of major interest to those
>groups.  These groups were permitted to present their testimony in
>sufficient time so as to allow congress to seriously consider the testimony
>prior to final approval of the budget - not any more.
>
>If left unchecked, veterans' benefits may ultimately be reduced to marching
>in a Veterans' Day parade.
>
>THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN.
>
>--------------------------------------------------
>
>U.S. Military (Ret.)
>Lawmaker's plan limits impact of veterans' groups on budget
>
>By Alex Keenan
>Special to the Times
>
>
>Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs 
>Committee,
>recently announced that veterans' service organizations no longer will have
>the opportunity to present testimony in a joint hearing each spring.
>This means the House and Senate veterans' affairs committees will abandon a
>tradition of joint presentations of legislative priorities by the service
>groups that dates to the 1950s.
>
>These hearings have been held each year to allow the elected leaders of
>veterans' groups to discuss their organizations' legislative agendas and
>foremost concerns with all lawmakers who have direct jurisdiction over
>federal veterans' programs.
>
>The annual joint hearing has been a linchpin in the consistent efforts of
>the service groups to keep a watchful eye on legislation and aggressively
>pursue every bill that affects veterans and military retirees to ensure
>there is no erosion of their benefits.
>
>Buyer's plan would have the groups testify before his House Veterans'
>Affairs Committee in early February, at the same time the White House
>releases its annual federal budget request, rather than in the traditional
>joint hearing.
>
>In a statement, he said the plan is designed to give service groups more
>influence on Department of Veterans Affairs budget policy. "Moving these
>hearings forward will bring more accountability to the budget process and
>ensure that veterans have greater input in the process," he said.
>
>Some major service organizations aren't buying it. The Paralyzed Veterans 
>of
>America, for example, says moving the testimony of veterans groups so close
>to the release of the president's budget will not give them enough time to
>digest and formulate views on the initiatives that affect veterans and
>retirees.
>
>"It is patently evident that the intent of this charade is to eliminate
>criticism of current and anticipated budget and policy initiatives and to
>marginalize veterans' voices," PVA Associate Executive Director Douglas
>Vollmer wrote in a Nov. 9 letter to Buyer.
>
>Vollmer didn't say it, but I'd bet he was thinking of the episode a few
>months ago in which veterans' groups helped bring to light a near VA budget
>fiasco.
>
>This spring, as deliberations began on the fiscal 2006 budget, VA officials
>told Congress they had all the money they needed. But in late June, VA
>officials acknowledged their 2005 budget was coming up short by hundreds of
>millions of dollars.
>
>In the end, the Bush administration had to ask for an extra $975 million to
>plug gaps in its fiscal 2005 VA budget, and another $1.98 billion more than
>its original budget request for fiscal 2006, which began Oct. 1.
>
>Each year, four major veterans' groups - AMVETS, Disabled American 
>Veterans,
>Paralyzed Veterans of America and Veterans of Foreign Wars - prepare an
>independent budget that shows what they believe to be the amount of money
>required to properly fund veterans' health care and other programs.
>
>This year, their budget figures, produced in May, turned out to be close to
>the higher funding levels the administration was forced to seek from
>Congress months later, after the shortfalls in VA's budget were brought to
>light.
>
>Leaders of the major veterans' service organizations have made great 
>strides
>in expressing their concerns and suggesting legislative changes through
>their opportunity to address joint sessions of the House and Senate
>veterans' affairs committees.
>
>Scrapping a procedure that has been in place for many years and has worked
>well is a mistake that would dilute the importance of the veterans' service
>organizations' message.
>
>Democrats on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee have said they will
>demand Buyer change his mind. I hope they succeed, because many pressing
>issues that affect veterans and retirees need to be addressed in serious
>ways.
>
>As retirees, we can support the service organizations in their efforts to
>watch out for our interests when we cast our ballots in the next election.
>Many of us too often vote for a political party, not for the lawmaker who
>will best look out for our interests as retirees.
>
>My congressional representative already knows my concerns - and each
>Election Day, I re-evaluate how well she represents my interests as a
>military retiree.
>
>------------------------------------------------
>
>Take care, Moscow.
>
>Tom Hansen
>U.S. Army (Retired)
>
>"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the 
>tranquil
>and steady dedication of a lifetime."
>
>--Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
>
>
>
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