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For Immediate Release:
April 26, 2005
FY 06 Budget Resolution:
Keeping Our Promise to Veterans
Providing for the Best Care to America's Most Honored
- The budget resolution sharply
reduced, compared with the President, the amount of mandatory savings expected
from the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. It does not assume savings from co-pays,
and the savings are less than the enrollment fees proposed by the President.
- As reported by the Budget Committee,
the budget resolution calls for the Veterans' Committee to produce $798 million
in mandatory savings over 5 years. These savings can come from any mix of
mandatory spending programs in the Committee's jurisdiction, which total $187.2
billion over the next 5 years.
- Chairman Buyer supports VAC's
participation in this year's deficit reduction efforts, but has rejected the
co-pays.
- The savings target for the VAC
is $1.7 billion less than the President's proposed savings of $2.5 billion
over 5 years (as rescored by CBO).
- At the request of several VAC
members, the budget does not assume savings from increasing the co-pay for
priority 7 and priority 8 veterans. Any decision to adopt an enrollment fee
would be left to the VAC.
- In a related matter, the budget
resolution also increased veterans' medical care-an annually appropriated
accounts-by $297 million over the President's amount for fiscal year 2006.
- Funding for veterans' medical
care has increased from $16.2 billion in 1995 to $29.9 billion today.
- The Republican Congress has demonstrated
its commitment to veterans' programs over the years. Since 1995, total spending
on veterans programs has increased from $38 billion to $67.6 billion-a 77%
increase.
- Military retirees injured in combat,
while training for combat, or who are 50% or more service0disabled are able,
for the first time in over a century, to receive retirement benefits concurrently
with veterans disability compensation.
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