We mustn't backslide on veterans' assistance
By: U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis
Published: Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The Tennessean

Years ago, even before our Founding Fathers made war against the armies of King George and united the thirteen colonies, the settlers at Plymouth began a solemn tradition of providing for those who serve. They understood, as we do today, that any man or woman who offers their life and service to the enduring freedom of our nation deserves nothing less than America's full devotion to the health and well being of every soldier returning from battle.

To a large degree, we have accomplished this. For nearly eighty years, the Veterans Administration has offered benefits to our returning men and women that cover healthcare, home loans, life insurance and more. The VA has worked to heal and care for men and women returning from the fields of Germany and Japan, Korea and Vietnam, and all those who served our country in the Middle East through battles past and present. This year alone, we've approved a $6.7 billion expansion of veterans' benefits that marks the largest increase in history.

The funds will go to supporting additional claims processors for the roughly 400,000 backlogs at the VA, reducing the waiting times for earned benefits, investing in maintenance for aging facilities like Walter Reed and more. This is a tremendous leap forward to provide further resources for Tennessee's 500,000 veterans, as well as to ensure that we prepare for the soldiers we all hope will soon return from Iraq and Afghanistan.

For all of this, there are those in Washington who have not demonstrated their commitment to making our fighting men and women a priority. In the budget we received from the President this week, cuts are proposed to the VA's medical research and auditing budgets, and the sum total of veterans health will leave little room for us to expand on high-priority programs to benefit veterans of our current war.

In addition, and for the sixth year in a row, the President's budget imposes on 1.4 million veterans some $5.2 billion in increased co-payments on prescription drugs and other medical costs over the next ten years. At the same time, in this blessed nation of unprecedented wealth, nearly 200,000 veterans will sleep on America's streets tonight. That is a fate undeserving of America's finest.

Our soldiers returning from Iraq, Afghanistan and around the globe face everything from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to traumatic brain injury, as well as the same uncertain economy that challenges all of us today. Now is not the time to take a step back from our duty to those who have defended America against her enemies at every corner of the world. There is no honor we can bestow upon our veterans that is greater than to preserve for them an America that commemorates their service with a lifetime of support.

We must strive to overcome the failures and inequities of our current system, and continue to call upon the limitless might of American compassion to care for those who risked what President Lincoln once called "the last full measure of devotion." Together, we can see this come to light.