Veterans
Senator Leahy believes in doing everything possible to honor our veterans.
Ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as interventions across the globe, mean that the country has an ever-increasing obligation to support its veterans. These brave men and women must have confidence that the country will honor their sacrifice when they return.
Recognizing their service not only means paying continual tribute on such holidays as Memorial Day and Veterans Day. It also means ensuring that our veterans in Vermont and across the country have adequate benefits through the Veterans Administration (VA).
Veterans Healthcare in Vermont
Senator Leahy is a staunch advocate for improving health care for our nation's veterans. He works hard to ensure the VA Department's health care system -- especially the White River Junction VA Medical Center in Vermont and its associated Community Based Outpatient Clinics in Colchester, White River, Bennington, Rutland, Brattleboro, and Littleton, NH -- remains strong and effective.
Many of Vermont's more than 60,000 veterans access healthcare through the VA Medical Center at White River Junction. This hospital is one of the nation's best veterans medical centers. As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over veterans healthcare, Senator Leahy has worked to secure almost $30 million in recent years to go directly to White River Junction VA Medical Center. This funding has allowed the hospital to make critical renovations, purchase new equipment, expand the surgical unit, and ensure the center's success.
Senator Leahy has also led the charge to increase the baseline budget of the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is based at White River. The VA reports that the most common combination of diagnoses found among returning combat soldiers is post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depression, and cognitive impairments due to traumatic brain injuries (TBI). Senator Leahy believes that it is critical that we take meaningful steps to eliminate the stigma around mental health issues facing our nation's soldiers and that these selfless individuals receive the care they need and have earned through their service.
Senator Leahy believes that it is unfair to ask our retired service members to pay more for their benefits. In 2007, 2008, and 2009 the Department of Defense proposed TRICARE fee increases in its defense budget submissions. Three years in a row Senator Leahy strongly opposed these proposals and three years in a row Congress prohibited the DOD from increasing premiums, deductibles, and co-payments. He also opposed a recent proposal, which failed, to bill veterans' private health insurance for service-connected care.
Fortunately, the Obama Administration shares the Senator's priorities and the Fiscal Year 2010 budget submission did not include any increased user fees, deductibles, or co-payments for vets. In fact, the new budget expanded VA health care coverage to non-disabled veterans earning modest incomes. Senator Leahy has pushed efforts to re-open the VA's health care system to these so-called Priority 8 veterans, a benefit which was terminated in 2003 to cut costs. Now, for the first time in six years, over 500,000 more Veterans will be eligible for VA health care by 2013.
National Veterans Spending
While the funding situation for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has improved substantially in Vermont and around the country, more must be done to ensure the entire veterans delivery network remains strong. Since the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2002, more than 870,000 veterans have left active duty, making them eligible for benefits and services provided by the VA.
The President has requested a $125.0 billion VA budget for 2011, a 7.6 percent increase over the 2010 budget (which was a 15 percent increase over the 2009 budget). The new budget continues reforms begun in 2010, including an increase in funding for veterans’ mental health programs, more education benefits under the new GI Bill, and improving the management and timeliness of the VA's benefits and claims processing.
Senator Leahy is a co-sponsor of legislation to fund the VA a year in advance, which would allow the VA to avoid the cuts that come with operating under the continuing resolutions. These cuts occur when Congress fails to complete appropriations bills before the beginning of a new fiscal year. It would also allow the Department to do more long-range planning.
Senator Leahy believes in the expansion of veterans’ education benefits provided by the Post-9/11 GI Bill. He has closely monitored the implementation of the bill and has contacted the VA to determine what additional efforts can be made to diminish the backlog in requests made by deserving service members. He has also worked with the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation and Vermont colleges to lessen the burden of educational expenses on Vermonters in uniform.
Related News
- Leahy, Sanders, Welch: $1 M. Veterans Administration Grant To Veterans Inc., July 17, 2012
- Delegation Announces Funding To Provide Permanent Housing To 25 Homeless Vermont Veterans, March 27, 2012
- Leahy, Sanders, Welch: Vermont Veterans Home Makes Short List For Likely VA Funding For E-Medical Records, February 10, 2012