Nice dodge Wayne but we are not speaking only of "disabled" vets. We are talking about the shortage of funds for vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON, April 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) today decried a Senate vote that denied emergency funding for veterans’ health care.
The vote, which fell along party lines, defeated the Murray-Akaka amendment offered by Sens. Pat Murray (D-WA) and Daniel Akaka (D-HI). The Amendment would have increased veterans’ health care funding by $1.975 billion. Additionally, the amendment would have provided $840 million to reverse current budget shortfalls and enable VA hospitals to prepare for an influx of new veterans from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"VA officials may use euphemisms like ’budget challenges’ to describe budget deficits, ’lagging in hiring’ to describe hiring freezes or ’management efficiencies’ to describe diverting equipment and maintenance funds to cover a budget deficit, but the reality of funding shortfalls across the nation is stark," said Gage.
Currently, VA hospitals across the nation are short-staffed, denying veterans medical care, unable to hire hospital staff, and cannot replace broken or antiquated equipment because of 2005 budget shortfalls and inadequate funds to meet demands for care.
The American Federation of Government Employees is the largest federal employee union, representing 600,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia |
