Default could have catastrophic effects for veterans
Denis McDonough, VA Secretary, said that a default on the debt on June 1 could impact VA payments, and that this would be “catastrophic”. McDonough pointed to the $12 billion in benefits expected to be paid to Veterans on June 1, roughly 7.1 million payees. McDonough also mentioned the other payments that could be impacted, including the payments to health providers, contractors, pharmacies, etc.
From Military.com:
The debt ceiling or debt limit is the amount of money the Treasury Department can borrow to pay the nation’s bills. The exact timing of when the U.S. would default is unknown, as the amount of cash the Treasury has on hand is dependent on how much tax revenue it receives, but Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned it could happen as soon as June 1.
House Republicans have demanded spending cuts in exchange for lifting the ceiling, while the White House has argued that negotiations on cuts should come after the ceiling is raised to ease economic turmoil and preserve the country’s credit rating.
The two sides have been in talks, with House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., saying Wednesday that negotiators were heading to the White House to continue the discussions. He added, however, that both sides are “still far apart,” according to The Associated Press.
“I’m hoping we can make progress,” McCarthy said.
McDonough has been at odds with Republican lawmakers since the VA issued a press release in April discussing the potential impact of a GOP budget proposal to reduce overall government funding by 22%.
McDonough has maintained that such cuts would reduce programs for veterans, including health care services and benefits.
Republicans say they never had any intention to cut VA funding and accused the VA of politicizing budget discussions, noting that the Republican-led House is considering appropriations legislation that would cover the president’s request for the VA for fiscal 2024, roughly $320 billion.
Military.com has additional information.
Category: Government Incompetence, Veteran Health Care, Veterans Issues, Veterans' Affairs Department
And the threats begin…
Thank you for your service.
Anybody smell PORK or just DC swine?
I smell lots and lots of pork, IMO this shit is just business as usual with the mainstream media spreading propaganda about it.
Why don’t Congresscritters ever have to worry about THEIR paychecks and benefits being threatened, just us filthy serfs?
Because unlike us, they do something. We peasants fix machinery, plow fields, build structures, keep the power grid going, and otherwise ensure that the quality of life enjoyed by Americans is maintained. Some of us spend our best years working long hours for little pay serving our nation’s military or serving our communities as first responders.
Congress actually does something, though. They invite illegals to cross our borders and get benefits and handouts that the native peasant class is not worthy of. They get elected based on fake promises and do just enough during their first term to ensure reelection, then often go on to spend decades in office, becoming millionaires in the process. They attempt to disarm us while maintaining armed security details and having an entire police agency catering to them.
Very true, bless their hearts sideways with a syphilitic Blue Whale cock.
Perhaps we could add some barbs to that, facing random directions.
If it’s going to hurt going in, it should hurt coming out.
Because very little of their income is from a paycheck while the
vast majority of it is from a payday.
Zero out funding for Ukraine, Illegal Aliens, Climate Change and all Woke/Gay crap and I’d bet we’ll have a few nickels left over for Real things like Open Books with Audits and Prosecuting crimes of Treason and stuff!
Didn’t the DC A-Holes and Herr biden supreme ruler of the new 1000 year 4th Reich reach an agreement??? Heard that on WFTL 850AM radio.
Yeah, and several GOP Reps have already said they won’t vote for it.
Brandon also claims he didn’t make any compromises, either.
Fearmongering as its finest.
Spend us into bankruptcy for the poor, poor veterans! (Left/libtard bureaucrats suck.)
“The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned.”
I can’t speak for everyone, but I was sent to suppress an insurgency and a rebellion and now I get a pension for that. So I’ll be first in line for my check, thank you very much. Plan “A” is to get a court order to start seizing US Property every month until l have equal value. I think I will start with the Hunter Biden Laptop or the Pelosi Laptop, maybe an M1A1 tank?… decisions, decisions….
Don’t forget to get an F15 and a nuke or 2. I mean, if you’re going to dream, dream big.
That isn’t a bad idea. The HOA would literally stroke out if I put an f-15 on static display in the front yard.
Don’t go static, go operational!
It needs to be a working model!
*Yawn*
A page from Bedford Forrest’s book…”keep up the skeer…”
Meanwhile, commie North Korea throws toddler in prison for life because his family had a Bible:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/north-korea-infant-jailed-life-094750021.html
Patience my friend give the Democrats for 12 more years and we will have it too.
So instead of dropping any degenerate pork spending (trans studies for Pakistan come to mind), we’ll just throw all of out over the side with everything else.
Going on the record: this bureaucrat fuckhead don’t speak for me.
Guarantee there are levels of existence that I am willing to accept much worse than your nightmares, ‘Mister’ secretary.
Shut. It. Down.
Aren’t budgets for this fiscal year (DOD &VA) already settled?
If the government defaults, aren’t we still good on retirement/disability until October?
And again, gonna be “that guy.”
In FY 2000, the VA budget was about $44B. This last FY it was $225B, give or take.
Yes, I understand that we have a lot of need in a post 9/11 world, but from a number of users?
In 2000, the bulk of load was from WWII and Korea vets, with a significant contribution from Vietnam vets, but the average age of the last group was still in their 50’s.
Now the WWII/Korea vets are all but gone, and even the youngest VM combat vets are nearly 70. The population of the VN group was far smaller than the first group, and post-9/11 vets comprises an even smaller number.
So we have a federal agency that is 5-6x bigger than it was even a quarter century ago, serving a dwindling population.
Is it just me, or does it seem that maybe, just maybe, there is in fact a little fat that can be cut?
Understandable. You also had large majorities of vets from that time frame that got ZERO service connections or a very minuscule amount.
You have a smaller percentage serving now, it a larger portion getting 100% due to PTSD from being yelled at.
In summation, there is fat to be cut.
NHSparky and Jay,
Trouble is, everyone wants their own fat kept intact,
and OTHER fat to be cut elsewhere.
IMHO,
Re-evaluation of 100%ers
who live active, busy, and big spending lives…
and appear to be miraculously cured of their PTSD,
would be VA time and money well invested / spent.
Oh, and the VA actually pulling FOIA / DD-214 records and
VERIFYING those who appear quite healthy and active,
and appear to be milking / bilking the VA.
I’ll stop here, except to say,
that anyone claiming publicly to be
“100% permanently and totally disabled”,
while motorcycling on a vibrating back breaking Harley
cross country and back,
taking long car vacays to far away beaches,
and dressing up in facepaint to hunt in the deep woods
for bear and turkey….
…. should be plenty of yellow / red flags for a VA re-evaluation.
In 2016 Harley-Davidson reduced the vibration on their motorcycles by 75%. Get a little seat back and that can be comfortable.
The VA could likely save a third of its annual payouts if it stopped or reduced the expenditures on these fraudsters like Wilted Willie’s brother.
Guy at work: I got a 100% disability– going skydiving and bodysurfing!
Me: Gee, must be mental.
Him: You bastard!
Me: Haha!
IMO, the predator producing welfare broodmares and the criminal invaders swarming across the border shouldn’t get a single penny until all of our veterans and Gold Star families are taken care of.
I will only say this: mine went through as usual and is in my account. I’ve checked twice to make sure things are as they should be, and they are.
In regard to SSRI, that is the trust fund, and NOT attached to the other SocSec departments, and is issued thru the SSRI trust fund. I do NOT understand why these bozos get this all mixed up, other than they desperately crave attention from people they think will vote for them.