Big cuts in store for Veterans care?

A preliminary budget leaked from the White House to a liberal group indicates that the Veterans Administration budget will receive large cuts in future years. While the VA budget has increased over 69 percent since Bush took office and by 11 percent in the coming year, it may be scheduled for three percent annual cuts for the next three years. Of course, Administration opponents are claiming that with the increasing number of wounded Iraq war veterans needing complex care, these cuts are not exactly showing support for the troops. "The only way you can do what they want to do in terms of actually cutting the budget is to throw a lot of veterans out who are already in the system and/or redefine who is a veteran," said Rick Weidman, director of government relations for the Vietnam Veterans of America. On the other hand, the politics of cutting Veterans' care are such that some fiscal conservatives suspect that the Administration isn't serious about deficit reduction.

- see this AP report

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