Spending on Veterans

Spending for GI Bill benefits increased 59 percent since 2001 and VA home loan guarantees nearly doubled since 2001. A summary of the President’s 2008 budget also showsthat an additional $36.6 billion has been provided for medical care to America’s veterans, “an increase of 83 percent since the President took office in 2001” (http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/pdf/veterans-2008.pdf).

The total VA budget increased from $66 billion in 2005 to $78 billion in 2007, and veteran’s medical care funding rose from $27.8 billion in 2005 to $32.3 billion in 2007.

So, it appears that everything is rosy when it comes to veterans spending. But of course, these are only some of the numbers.

Further, such numbers reflect the actions of the entire Congress (now majority Democratic) rather than one particular member. The fact remains that our Representative in Congress – Virginia Foxx – has voted numerous times to not fully fund or to cut benefits for veterans.

Another fact is that the war in Iraq – a war of choice rather than a war of necessity based on a “grave and gathering” threat as claimed by President Bush – has led to 3,245 dead and 24,314 wounded American military personnel. These are new veterans and families of veterans created by President Bush and Congress for no valid reason.

So, Congress has increased the number of veterans while simultaneously increasing some forms of veterans spending. How kind of them!

A conservative estimate for the cost of these veterans to US taxpayers is in the range of $91 billion to $214 billion, including VA costs, medical treatment and disabilities payments alone (http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/cost_of_war_in_iraq.pdf). None of the numbers provided by the letter writer will cover this spending.

In conclusion, I’d like to challenge all those who still stand behind Virginia Foxx, President Bush and all similar leaders, to answer the following questions. But I warn you, you should no longer remain an ignorant supporter of a failed Iraq policy when you find the answers.

4) How does their document – “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” (published in September 2000) – relate to US foreign policy since 9/11, including the Iraq war?

My fellow citizens, these people you are defending are not who you think they are. They are not like you. They are not like me. They wanted a war on Iraq for years, wrote about it for years before 9/11, and planned for it well in advance of the invasion (even while publicly saying the war would be a last resort). And they initiated the war before finishing the job in Afghanistan and even before defeating the people who actually attacked us on 9/11 (which Iraq had nothing to do with).