President's Spending for Ex-Soldiers Falls Short of Promise to Give Them "Priority" Treatment
Two years ago, President Bush said, "Veterans are a priority for this administration... and that priority is reflected in my budget." But, a year ago, when he had a chance to approve an emergency funding bill that included $275 million for medical care of veterans, he said, "We'll spend none of it."
Now the President's 2004 budget request for the Veterans Administration will effectively cut spending for its already-stretched health care system. Because of increased medical costs at an above-inflation rate of 4.7% and increased enrollment of 8%, the American Legion calculates that Bush's 2004 request "comes $1.9 billion short of maintaining an inadequate status quo."
A task force commissioned by Bush himself has reported that federal funding to handle the ailments of former soldiers continues to be considerably less than their needs. In the past ten years the spending per patient dropped from almost $15,000 to less than $5,000.
More than 235,000 veterans are currently waiting six months or more for an initial appointment.
Of course, this is easy to do if you view veterans as a used-up commodity with no further value. If that's the case, why promise that you're going to make them a priority? That's easy; because it's a means to President Bush's end, and he cares for little except what will keep him in office. Being a demagogue means never having to say you're sorry.
