Congressman Mike Honda replies to my HR 602 & HR 4949 IMA MAIL

Since 04-25-06

From: Congressman Mike Honda [mike.honda@us.house.gov]
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 9:23 AM
To: J.R. Santos
Subject: Re: HR 602 & HR 4949 IMA MAIL

Dear Mr. Santos:

Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 602, the Keep Our Promise to America's Military Retirees Act. Like you, I am deeply concerned about the well being of our veterans and I believe that we have an obligation to adequately fund the Veterans Administration (VA).

I am a co-sponsor of H.R. 602 because I believe that we need to continue to serve our Veterans with adequate health care. The sacrifice that our veterans have made to this country deserves to be reciprocated with our deepest gratitude, as well as by keeping our country's promise to ensure health care to veterans after they finish their term in the service.

The President’s proposed budget for FY 2006 shows how vulnerable VA health care funding is under the current policy. The President’s budget request fails to honor our obligation to our nation’s brave men and women. Rather than keeping the promise of a lifetime of care for veterans, this budget hamstrings the VA, forcing veterans to dig into their own pockets. Under the Bush proposal, many of our veterans will pay a $250 annual enrolment fee for medical care, and more than twice as much in prescription drug co-pays fees, from $7 to $15. These increases threaten to drive tens of thousands of our veterans out of the VA health care system. The President’s proposal decimates nursing homes for veterans by serving 28,000 fewer elderly veterans in order to slash $351 million from the budget.

This budget also fails a new generation of veterans. More than 10,000 troops have been injured in Afghanistan and Iraq, and thousands of others bear the less visible, but very serious psychological injuries of war. Many of these troops will live with adverse effects of these injuries for the rest of their lives. But the President’s budget ignores their future needs, cutting $4 million from the medical and prosthetic research and increasing funding for post traumatic stress and mental health services by an inadequate 8%.

I have voiced my concerns to both the Speaker of the House and the President. I, along with several of my colleagues, sent a letter to Speaker Hastert denouncing this budget proposal. In the letter we ask Speaker Hastert to work with us to provide a $3 billion funding increase for veteran’s health care, so that we can honor our obligation to the nation’s service members, veterans and military families. Unfortunately, we never heard from Speaker Hastert and the budget passed the Republican-led House.

In a separate letter to the President, several colleagues and I requested that the President set aside $1.3 billion of the emergency supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for health care and readjustment assistance for veterans. Despite our request, the President submitted his emergency supplemental budget request without this much needed funding for veterans.

I applaud efforts to reduce the overall budget deficit, but these reductions should never come at the expense of our veterans. Taking VA health care funding out of the appropriations process and making it a permanent I assure you that I will continue to work to ensure that our great nation keeps its promise to honor our veterans.

Sincerely,
Mike Honda
Member of Congress

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