Not balancing the budget on the backs of veterans

Chief Tango sends us a link to The Blaze which tells about more of Obama’s plan to balance spending (not balancing the budget – that is history) on the backs of veterans. You probably remember last summer when everyone wanted to fix the Veterans’ healthcare system because the VA wasn’t getting it right. So, Congress and the White House hammered out the Veterans’ Choice Program which allowed veterans to get their health care from civilian providers. In an uncharacteristic effort, everyone worked together to get the bill out of Congress and on the street.

Well, that’s one of the things that the White House wants to cut, while it’s barely six months old;

…Obama released a budget plan that said he would try to pare it back, and would offer legislation to do so. “In the coming months, the administration will submit legislation to reallocate a portion of Veterans Choice Program funding to support essential investments in VA system priorities in a fiscally-responsible, budget-neutral manner,” the budget said.

VA Secretary Robert McDonald added that he would propose this chance in order to provide flexibility at the VA, in order to “serve veterans the way they want and deserve to be served.”

Congress ain’t standing for it…well, for now, anyway;

“When a near-unanimous Congress worked with President Obama last year to create the choice program, we made a promise to veterans to give them more freedom in their health care decisions,” [House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.)] said. “I will not stand idly by while the president attempts to renege on that promise.”

“It is unacceptable to me that the president would begin to dismantle the Veterans’ Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 that he just signed into law last August by taking the resources allocated to enact this legislation for use elsewhere,” said Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.).

I guess we can take that as a swipe at us veterans for not electing a Democrat Congress for the President. We’re not his constituency, even though he claims to be “everyone’s President”.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Veteran Health Care