After making generous promises to veterans during the 2000
presidential campaign, President Bush has failed to deliver since
moving into the White House. Four years later, the President again
needs the support of veterans and has been boasting of "hard work"
and major victories. A look at the record reveals that the President's
rhetoric far outpaces reality. When victories have been won, they
have come in spite of the President. This report compares fact and
fiction when it comes to the Bush Administration's record on
veterans issues.
President Bush has failed to address the rapidly
growing demand for veterans' services.
Bush Rhetoric: "The FY 2005 budget includes a 41 percent
funding increase in veterans' medical care spending alone since FY
2001." (White House Fact Sheet, 8/16/04)
Reality: During his four years in office, President Bush's budget
requests account for only about a 25 percent increase in Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA) funding. The rest of President Bush's "41
percent" comes from money added by Congress - in the face of
opposition from the Bush Administration. The Administration, in fact,
refused to spend $275 million provided for VA health care in the
2002 supplemental appropriations bill and, during consideration of
the 2004 supplemental appropriations bill, wrote to Congress that
"the Administration strongly opposes these provisions that would
allocate an additional $1.3 billion for VA medical care." (Letter to
Congressional Leaders from Office of Management and Budget
Director Joshua Bolton, 10/21/03)
President Bush also fails to mention that, though he has requested a
25 percent increase over four years, medical inflation has increased
17 percent and enrollment has risen 50 percent. In fact, President Bush's budget
choices have been decried by veterans' organizations every year of his term:
- 2001: With regard to President Bush's first VA budget, American Legion
Commander Ray Smith said, "Frankly, this budget is insufficient to fulfill the
campaign promises George W. Bush made." (American Legion press release,
2/28/01)
- 2002: When President Bush refused to accept $275 million in VA emergency
funds approved by Congress, VFW Commander-in-Chief James N. Goldsmith
said, "I am extremely disappointed with the President's decision to deny
desperately needed funds to VA that were provided by Congress to ensure that
eligible veterans retain timely access to quality VA health care services.
Releasing the funds will prevent the rationing of VA health care to eligible veterans
and will begin to make a dent in the current backlog of 300,000-plus veterans
waiting for medical care appointments." (Veterans of Foreign Wars [VFW] press
release, 8/15/2002)
- 2003: VFW Commander-in-Chief Ray Sisk termed provisions in President
Bush's 2004 budget "most disturbing." (VFW Magazine, April 2003)
- 2004: Paralyzed Veterans of American Legislative Director Richard Fuller called
the 2005 budget "woefully inadequate." (PVA press release, 2/4/04)
President Bush's veterans health care budget is grossly inadequate.
Bush Rhetoric: "This is the golden age of VA health care." (Testimony on Fiscal Year
2005 VA budget by Secretary Anthony Principi, before House Budget Committee,
2/12/2004)
Reality: According to a bipartisan report of the Senate Appropriations Committee, the
President's Fiscal Year 2005 Budget requests an increase of only $19 million, or 0.07
percent, over Fiscal Year 2004. Ten days earlier, before the House Veterans' Affairs
Committee,, Secretary Principi admitted that the White House had slashed his
recommended VA budget by $1.2 billion before submitting it to Congress. VFW
Commander-in-Chief Edward Banas called the President's Budget "a disgrace and a
sham." (VFW press release, 2/2/04)
President Bush has denied thousands of veterans access to health
care.
Bush Rhetoric: "Since 2001, we've enrolled 2.5 million more veterans in health care
services. We've increased out-patient visits from 44 million to 54 million. We've
increased the number of prescriptions filled from 98 million to 116 million." (Address to
VFW Convention, 8/16/2004)
Reality: President Bush has presided over the longest waiting lists in VA history. At
their peak, more than 300,000 veterans were waiting months or years to see a
physician. Year after year, the President has proposed new fees and higher
copayments - not to raise money, but to reduce the number of veterans using VA
health services. For instance, in Fiscal Year 2005, the VA forecast that a $250 annual
membership fee would lead to $135 million in collections, but $218 million in reduced
spending on care. If the proposals contained in his Fiscal Year 2005 budget request
are implemented, an estimated ten percent of all VA enrollees - 800,000 veterans -
would be driven away from the VA health care system, according to the VA. In addition,
the President in January 2003 established an enrollment ban for new Priority 8
veterans. The Administration sought to justify this by calling them "high-income"
veterans, but these veterans may earn as little as $25,000 per year. With senior
citizens paying an average of $2,318 per year in prescription drug costs, these veterans
are hardly wealthy. This decision has prevented more than 500,000 veterans from
enrolling in the VA health care system.
President Bush fails to make our nation's veterans a priority.
Bush Rhetoric: "All our nation's veterans have made serving American the highest
priority of their lives, and serving our veterans is one of the highest priorities of my
administration." (Address to VFW Convention)
Reality: Each year, President Bush has proposed new tax breaks for America's
millionaires. Each year, the President says there are not enough resources to provide
health care and prescriptions to all veterans who need them. During Bush's four years
in office, the average millionaire has received a tax break of $123,000. In contrast,
President Bush has broken all previous records for fees paid by veterans - proposing
to collect $1.3 billion from veterans themselves in 2005, a 478 percent increase during
his time in office. Although Congress has repeatedly blocked him, the President has
sought to boost payments by veterans even higher:
- 2001: a 350 percent increase in prescription drug copayments, from $2 to $7, and
a 110 percent total increase in veterans' out-of-pocket costs;
- 2002: a 45 percent copayment for health care, capped at $1,500 per year, and a
41 percent total increase in veterans' out-of-pocket costs;
- 2003: an increase in the VA's primary care copayment from $15 to $20, a $250
enrollment fee for middle-income veterans, an increase in prescription drug
copayments for lower-income veterans from $7 to $15, and a 16 percent total
increase in veterans' out-of-pocket costs; and
- 2004: a $250 enrollment fee for middle-income veterans, an increase in
prescription drug copayments for lower-income veterans from $7 to $15, and a 69
percent total increase in veterans' out-of-pocket costs.
President Bush's consistent efforts to pay for tax breaks for millionaires with increased
fees for veterans raises the question of which group is a higher priority for President
Bush.
President Bush has blocked veterans from gaining quick and
convenient access to prescription drugs, a decision that has led to
billions of dollars of government waste.
Bush Rhetoric: "Last year, President Bush took the unprecedented step of allowing
veterans waiting for a medical appointment who already had a prescription from their
private physician to get those prescriptions filled by the VA - saving veterans hundreds
of dollars in drug costs." (White House Fact Sheet, 8/16/04)
Reality: This was an unprecedented step - and one sought since 2003 by Senate
Democrats who cosponsored S. 19. Unfortunately, the Administration offered it to only
8,000 veterans nationwide - certain veterans who had been waiting over six months
for an appointment - before terminating the program. Now it's back to business as
usual.
Under its current policies, the VA refuses to fill a veteran's prescription from a non-VA
physician until it can be reissued by a physician employed by the VA. The rule is
wasteful - the VA Inspector General has found that it adds $1 billion per year in
unnecessary costs - and contributes to the backlog of patients waiting for
appointments at VA hospitals. Last year, the Department of Justice ruled that the VA
could overturn this rule without Congressional action,but the VA refused Congressional
requests to proceed.
President Bush's claims about a reduction in the disability claims
backlog have no basis in fact.
Bush Rhetoric: "We're getting the job done. We've reduced the large backlog of
disability claims by about a third." (Address to VFW Convention)
Reality: In the VA's most recent report on the claims backlog, there were 325,497 total
disability claims pending (Monday Morning Report, September 27-October 2, 2004).
When President Bush was inaugurated, the VA reported only 278,334 cases pending -
47,000 fewer than today. (Monday Morning Report, January 16-19, 2001)
Moreover, the Washington Post recently reported that "through the end of April, the
most recent accounting the VA could provide, a total of 166,334 veterans of operations
in Iraq and Afghanistan had separated from military service, and 26,633 - 16 percent
- had filed benefits claims with the VA for service-connected disabilities. Less than
two-thirds of those claims had been processed, leaving more than 9,750 recent
veterans waiting. Officials expect those numbers to increase as the fighting in Iraq and
Afghanistan continues." (10/3/04)
On concurrent receipt, President Bush takes credit for Congress's
hard work, ignoring his history of support for the disabled veterans
tax.
Bush Rhetoric: "For more than a century, federal law prohibited disabled veterans
from receiving both their military retired pay and their VA disability compensation.
Combat-injured and severely disabled veterans deserve better. I was proud to be the
first President in over 100 years to sign concurrent receipt legislation. We're getting the
job done in Washington, DC." (Address to VFW Convention)
Reality: President Bush has twice threatened to veto concurrent receipt, and has
opposed progress made in Congress, despite the fact that the Senate passed
concurrent receipt legislation 4 years in a row. In addition to veto threats, the Bush
Administration proposed accepting concurrent receipt legislation through a compromise
proposal that would have denied disability benefits for two-thirds of disabled veterans.
The President, who now claims credit for concurrent receipt victories, only signed
concurrent receipt legislation because of insurmountable bipartisan pressure from
Congress.
President Bush fails to ensure quality health care and services to
America's newest generation of veterans.
Bush Rhetoric: "VA staff is reaching out to 136 military bases to provide America's
newest veterans with the services they have earned and to bring about a seamless
transition for newveterans from military to civilian status." (White House Fact Sheet,
8/16/04)
Reality: President Bush has not asked for a single additional dollar to provide VA care
or services specifically for the newest generation of veterans returning from Iraq and
Afghanistan. Moreover, his budget for Fiscal Year 2005 - a year in which thousands
of these newest veterans will be eligible for VA health care - falls over $3 billion short
of the amount needed to address the current demand for health care, according the to
Independent Budget produced by leading veterans' organizations. As David Autry, a
spokesman for Disabled American Veterans, recently said, "the system is already
strained, and it's going to get strained even worse. It's not a rosy picture at all, and they
can't possibly hope to say they're going to provide timely benefits to the new folks if
they can't provide timely care to the people already in the system." (Washington Post,
10/3/04)
President Bush has failed to provide sufficient support for tomorrow's
veterans - the men and women of the U.S. military.
Bush Rhetoric: "The President also supports tomorrow's veterans and their
families...Since 2001, the President's budgets have provided an increase in basic pay
for men and women in uniform by almost 21 percent, improved military housing for
families living on base, and reduced to zero the average housing expenses for military
families living off base." (White House Fact Sheet, 8/16/04)
Reality: President Bush sent thousands of troops into war in Iraq without adequate
body armor or armored vehicles, failed to communicate to troops and their families
about deployment lengths and the dates troops would return home, and has strained
the U.S. military to the breaking point, leaving 9 of 10 U.S. Army divisions either
preparing for, returning from, or engaging in service in Iraq or Afghanistan. The
President also opposed increased Family Separation and Imminent Danger pay for
troops on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan, and opposed providing members of
the Guard and Reserve with improved health care opportunities. Finally, despite the
President's attempt to take credit for improving military housing, his Administration
actually proposed a $1.5 billion cut in military housing funding shortly before the war in
Iraq began.
