Intervention Magazine’s Fred Sweet writes about The Bush administrations regard toward veterans as a matter of budget and policy:
Last month, as part of a $5.1 billion budget package, Congress included $275 million for veterans’ medical care that would have helped to cover VA expenses. President Bush, however, labels the bill “loaded with pork” that he will reject. According to the Washington Post, Bush is rejecting the $5.1 billion Congressional authorization (including the $275 million earmarked for veterans%u2019 care) to teach lawmakers a lesson about what he considers overspending. Bush did sign, however, a $28.9 billion bill for supplementing homeland security and defense funds.
When the Bush administration announced the formation of a force against Afghanistan, while simultaneously launching the “Office of Homeland Security” I knew that Veterans Administration budget among was the most vulnerable.
However, this is a war, we all must suffer. Still, I can’t help but feel that the warriors of our previous battle should not suffer such as this:
Disabled American Veterans, National Adjutant Arthur H. Wilson, referred to the more than one-third of America?s homeless people who are veterans: ?On any given night in America, more than 275,000 homeless men and women are veterans. That?s the equivalent of 18 infantry divisions on the streets of this great nation with no place to call home — quite literally, an army of homeless veterans. And that is simply intolerable.”