[Vision2020] Budget cuts could slash $1B from vets health care

[lfalen]

Congress, not the president raises the debt celing and writes the budget.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: Joe Campbell philosopher.joe at gmail.com
Date: Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:23:05 -0800
To: Paul Rumelhart godshatter at yahoo.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Budget cuts could slash $1B from vets health care

> No, Paul. You're drinking the conservative cool aid.
> 
> Reagan raised the debt as a creative way to cut government programs. The
> story was he crushed the Soviet Union with an arms race. No one said
> anything because that government spending had to do with the military and
> for reasons that escape me conservatives refuse to think of the military as
> part of the government.
> 
> By the time Clinton took office we were in debt. To lose the debt, welfare
> and other programs were cut. When Bush II took over he raised the debt
> again, this time by waging 2 different wars. Again, no one said anything
> because this was military spending -- and that's safety not government. So
> more government programs now "must" get cut in order to get out of the
> terrible shape we're in. It's the only "rational" thing to do.
> 
> I have a hard time looking at these patterns and thinking these are
> anything other than Republican strategies to cut government by
> circumventing the democratic process -- cutting programs not by voting in
> folks with that kind of mind set but by creating economic crises. The fact
> that Congress can agree on how to cut "big" government might just be an
> indication that there is less government fat than the conservative myths
> suggest.
> 
> And I want to be clear that I don't think you're the anti-Christ! (I know
> this comment wasn't directed at me but I want to be clear.) Actually, I've
> always liked you. I just disagree with much of what you say. I'm a little
> tougher on you when it comes to the global warming debate because that is a
> huge issue of importance to future generations, indeed to the human race.
> 
> Best, Joe
> 
> On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 10:49 AM, Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com>wrote:
> 
> > **
> >
> > Because the Congressional "super-committee" couldn't agree on budget cuts
> > and we've since defaulted to across-the-board cuts.  That was all part of
> > the deal that was passed when we were trying to shave the smallest amounts
> > off a small piece of the debt during the whole "debt ceiling" fiasco.
> >
> > We did this to ourselves by electing such a contentious Congress.
> >
> > Paul
> >
> >
> > On 01/02/2012 10:09 AM, Joe Campbell wrote:
> >
> > Why do we have to cut back on programs? We were fine with the programs. It
> > was the wars that got us in debt, right?
> >
> >
> >
> > On Jan 2, 2012, at 9:50 AM, Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Well, that's the problem with across-the-board budget cuts, isn't it?
> > Nobody is going to be pleased.
> >
> > We have to cut budgets, and since nobody in Congress can agree on which
> > way is up, this is our only real solution.
> >
> > We have to cut back on how much we spend, since our spending is out of
> > control.  It's ridiculous.
> >
> > Paul
> >
> > On 01/02/2012 09:31 AM, Tom Hansen wrote:
> >
> > Nice, huh?
> >
> >  Courtesy of the January 9, 2012 edition of the Army Times.
> >
> >  ------------------------------
> >
> >  *Budget cuts could slash $1B from vets health care**
> > Lawmakers may reverse on promises not to cut VA*
> >
> > By Rick Maze
> >
> > As veterans groups face the pos sible automatic, across-the-board cuts in
> > federal spending that could begin in 2013, fear of the unknown is strong.
> >
> > The Budget Control Act of 2011 is “imprecise,” says a House staff member
> > who has been trying to advise lawmakers on how the Vet erans Affairs
> > Department would fare if $1.2 trillion in automatic budget cuts are ordered
> > Jan. 2, 2013.
> >
> > Veterans disability, survivor, education and training benefits, and
> > low-income pensions are exempt from the automatic cuts, a process known as
> > sequestra tion. But it is unclear whether veterans health care funds are
> > protected.
> >
> > A 2 percent cut in veterans health care funding appears possi ble under
> > some readings of the law — and its references back to the 1985 Balanced
> > Budget and Emer gency Deficit Control Act, more commonly known as the
> > Gramm-Rudman Act.
> >
> > “We have not heard any specifics, only vague references that earlier
> > pledges not to cut VA health care or benefits may not be honored by
> > Congress,” said David Autry of Disabled American Veter ans. “That is
> > worrisome.” With a health care budget of about $51 billion to serve 6.2
> > mil­lion patients, a sequester could result in a $1 billion cut at a time
> > when the population of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans seeking
> > treatment for the physical and mental wounds of war is on the rise.
> > Some patients, particularly veterans who do not have serviceconnected
> > disabilities, could be turned away, say representatives of veterans groups
> > who have studied the potential impact.
> >
> > Fear of devastating cuts from sequestration is partly why leaders of the
> > House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs committees were willing in October to
> > propose cuts in veterans benefits.
> >
> > A joint letter signed by Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Richard Burr,
> > R-N.C., and Reps. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., and Bob Filner, D-Calif., the
> > leaders of the committees, acknowledged that a “plausible legal
> > interpretation” of the budget law puts veterans medical funds at risk for
> > cuts.
> >
> > “We would rather make the difficult decisions now so that we may never
> > reach that possibility down the road,” the four lawmakers said in a letter
> > to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction that tried but failed to
> > come up with an overall $1.2 trillion deficit reduction package that would
> > have avoided sequestration.
> >
> > The four were so concerned about harm to the VA health care budget that
> > they were willing to take some controversial actions, including capping
> > annual increases in GI Bill benefits at a level below increases in tuition.
> >
> > Miller, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman, said any automatic
> > cuts “would have a negative impact on VA’s health care system and its
> > ability to properly care for our veterans.” He expressed frustration that
> > the White House and VA have not clarified the situation. “I have raised
> > this concern numerous times in the past few months, but I am still waiting
> > to hear,” he said. “It is now incumbent on the administration to clarify
> > this issue immediately for veterans once and for all.” Ryan Gallucci of
> > Veterans of Foreign Wars said there is still time to fight to protect
> > veterans programs. “Since no one seems to know for sure, we have a year to
> > make our case to preserve our earned veterans benefits,” said Gallucci,
> > VFW’s deputy national legislative director.
> >
> > “It’s important for our members to call and write Congress to explain why
> > these programs are important and why our veterans need them to remain
> > intact.” In a Nov. 22 statement to its members, the VFW warns that
> > sequestration could lead to increases in co-payments for medical visits and
> > prescription drugs for veterans, and an increase in the enrollment fee for
> > veterans who sign up for VA treatment but do not have service-connected
> > health issues.
> >
> > Signed by Robert Wallace, executive director of VFW’s Washington office,
> > the statement encourages members to contact lawmakers to press for a full
> > VA exemption to sequestration.
> >
> > “Over the next year, many in Congress as well as thousands of registered
> > lobbyists will be working hard to protect their special interests and
> > programs,” the VFW statement says.
> >
> > “We must all work hard to protect the Department of Veterans Affairs
> > health, benefits and cemetery administrations, as well as all military
> > quality of life programs for the troops, their families and military
> > retirees.”
> >
> >  ------------------------------
> >
> > Seeya later, Moscow.
> >
> >  Tom Hansen
> > Spokane, Washington
> >
> >  "If not us, who?
> > If not now, when?"
> >
> >  - Unknown
> >
> >
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