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Senate panel asks for changes in VA budget

A key Senate committee is asking for a $2.6 billion increase in veterans’ spending over the Bush administration’s budget out of concern the needs of combat veterans are not being met.

The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, D-Hawaii, is asking for a fiscal 2009 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs that is $6.6 billion over the fiscal 2008 budget, with $4.6 billion of the additional money going for medical care operations.

Akaka said Congress “has an obligation to our troops returning from combat now” that cannot be met without more money. “Taking care of veterans is a cost of war and our recommendation would fill significant gaps in the president’s request,” Akaka said.

The House Veterans’ Affairs Committee is working on a similar budget proposal that it is expected to unveil Thursday.

Akaka’s committee said in a Friday letter to the Senate Budget Committee that it rejects cuts proposed by the Bush administration in construction, medical research and auditing. The letter also said the committee opposes an initiative to raise prescription drug fees and to impose enrollment fees for some moderate-income veterans enrolled in the VA health plan who do not have service-connected disabilities.

“These proposals are unacceptable,” Akaka said.

The budget committee, headed by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., takes requests from committees responsible for different parts of the federal budget and prepares an overall spending plan, known as a budget resolution, which guides formulation of specific agency budgets. A budget resolution is not binding but it can include informal spending caps.

Congressional rules require the House and Senate to agree on an overall budget resolution by mid-April each year. But that deadline is rarely met, with no penalty for being late or failing to pass it at all.

Akaka and the Democratic majority recommended a $742 million increase specifically to cover costs related to returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, $135 million for improvements for rural veterans and $10 million for women veterans.

They also ask for a $1.9 billion increase in the medical budget to cover rising medical costs what would result in diminished services without more funding. This is $1.4 billion more than the Bush administration proposed.