Senate GOP Plans Spending Boost for Vets
Associated Press
June 29, 2005

WASHINGTON - With an unexpected number of wounded troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, Senate Republicans hurried Tuesday to cover what could be a politically damaging $1 billion miscalculation in money needed for veterans health care.

They prepared to add roughly $1.5 billion to veterans programs as Democrats, who had tried to add billions to the veterans budget this spring, chided the White House and Republican leaders.

"This is not news to this side of the aisle," said Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla. "We've known all along the funding was woefully inadequate."

The Senate Republicans' swift decision cuts off Democratic attempts to boost veterans spending with their own $1.4 billion amendment to a pending spending bill.

The Veterans Affairs Department told lawmakers last week that it needs an extra $1 billion for health care this year. Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said the agency can rearrange its spending accounts to cover the shortfall and rejected the need for an emergency cash infusion.

House Republicans stood by Nicholson, who urged lawmakers at House and Senate hearings not to view the funding shortfall as a crisis. With a 217-189 vote along party lines, the House rejected an effort by Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Texas, to immediately provide another $1 billion for veterans.

"We've got plenty of time," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.

Senate Republicans, nevertheless, pushed ahead to provide emergency assistance so the VA wouldn't need to draw on other accounts to pay health care costs.

"We have a difference of opinion," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho.

It was not clear how the money would fit under an overall spending cap that Congress and President Bush have imposed on themselves for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

The $1.5 billion in emergency funding this year would fill the current needs and let the agency carry any unused money into next year, Craig said.

Nicholson said the VA plans to cover its $1 billion in unexpected health care costs this year by drawing on a $400 million budgetary cushion and $600 million for building maintenance and operations.