American veterans may be one of the most misunderstood and disrespected minorities in America today.
And they do not get the respect they deserve from what some believe is an indifferent Congress and an ungrateful nation.
This from thepatriotjournal.com.
They put their lives on the line to protect the freedoms we all enjoy every day. Once they return home, however, veterans oftentimes find their sacrifices are not realized, not understood, and consequently not appreciated. Many of them end up feeling abandoned by the very American government they were prepared to die for to protect.
This is why it’s so refreshing to see the House of Representatives pass a new roughly $3 billion veterans supplemental funding bill. This could not come at a better time, as Congress is heading toward an October 1 partial government shutdown deadline.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) warned Congress two months ago it was approximately $3 billion short of the funding it needed for the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30. The VA is also about $12 billion short of the projected funding that it needs for the next fiscal year.
The VA has said if Congress does not pass additional funds by this Friday, 7 million veterans may not have any benefits come October 1. This is why Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) has spearheaded this bill, which has quickly garnered bipartisan support in a deeply divided Congress.
From Fox News:
‘I would never just write a blank check to a federal agency that’s underperforming and, you know, effectively overrunning their accounts,’ Garcia explained. ‘It is something that affects not just the 7 million veterans, but also the families and everyone around depending on those checks.’
And those 7 million veterans, he said, ‘would lose their pension benefits, they would lose their GI bill benefits, the college tuition assistance.’
Garcia’s bill also includes a mandate for the VA to issue a report on the shortfall to Congress, and future accountability reporting guardrails to ensure continuing funds are managed properly. It would also force the VA secretary to report to lawmakers on any future budget estimate changes.
Garcia believes the failures of the budget are:
[Due to] mismanagement and bad budgeting from the VA and probably, you know, not managing other accounts correctly that have affected these VA benefits.
It comes as a relief that the bill includes that mandate for the VA in the hopes of holding them accountable in the future.
Indeed, millions of veterans have been let down by the VA for decades. American military veterans, quite frankly, deserve a far better VA than the one that is currently in place.
Lawmakers currently have less than ten days to solve the enormous government funding issue before the partial shutdown deadline. Government funding is one of the main issues faced by the 118th Congress.
Garcia knows for 7 million veterans, time is of the essence when it comes to this bill. That’s why he’s hoping that despite all the chaos that is currently happening in Congress, it can pass in the Senate quickly.
Because this turns into a pumpkin on Sept. 20, we don’t really have time to tie this to a CR package.
With all the political division that is currently taking place in America, it’s nice to see lawmakers from both sides of the aisle may be coming together to help veterans. Here’s hoping this bill continues to be a success!
