Congress grapples with veterans issues.

With the second session of the 109th Congress underway, major goals for disabled veterans and their families are full funding for VA health care and improvements in benefits delivery, as recommended in The Independent Budget. For 20 years this comprehensive budget and policy document has provided Congress and the administration a veterans' perspective of the resources needed to adequately fund the full range of veterans health care and benefit programs.

"The funding and policy recommendations in The Independent Budget have been the benchmark for comparing the actual needs of veterans against what the administration has proposed and what Congress has provided," said National Legislative Director Joseph A. Violante. "And although the veterans budget has increased in recent years, there still is a significant gap in funding to meet the needs of sick and disabled veterans." (As the President's budget request for the next fiscal year had not been released at this writing, a comparison of specific funding recommendations is planned for the next issue of DAV Magazine.)

Developed by DAV, AMVETS, PVA, and the VFW, the annual Independent Budget provides the nation's decision-makers a veterans' perspective on federal spending and national policy priorities for veterans programs. "Yet, year after year," Violante said, "the federal budget has failed to provide the VA the resources it needs to provide veterans timely access to quality health care and prompt, accurate decisions on their disability compensation claims."

For the coming fiscal year, The Independent Budget recommends increasing the overall VA medical care budget by 11 percent over the 2006 level, to $32.9 billion. Included in that amount is a 13 percent boost for direct medical services to sick and disabled veterans and a 10 percent increase in funding for medical and prosthetic research.

The Independent Budget once again strongly recommends an overhaul in the way veterans health care is funded. "The DAV and virtually every other veterans service organization have called for replacing the current discretionary appropriations method with full mandatory funding, or some combination of discretionary and direct funding," said Violante. "The current budget model simply does not allow the VA to plan for and meet the medical needs of sick and disabled veterans. This fundamental budget reform proposal will take the politics, guesswork and political gamesmanship out of VA health care."

Other recommendations include $1.4 billion for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) to hire additional staff, as well as to improve training and information technology within the Compensation and Pension Service. The Independent Budget also calls for adding staff and program improvements within the VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service.

"The VA needs to make a substantial investment in resources and training to overcome the persistent backlogs in pending claims that have delayed and wrongly denied disability benefits to veterans and their families," said Violante. "That investment needs to go beyond adequate funding and must include a long-term strategy focused on improving the quality, efficiency and accountability of the entire benefits delivery system."

As the budget and appropriations processes progresses, the DAV will be working closely with Congress, the administration and other veterans service organizations in an all-out effort to ensure adequate resources are provided to meet the needs of America's disabled veterans and their families.

"The DAV faces many challenges and months of hard work, and our grassroots advocacy program is absolutely key to achieving our goals in support of veterans programs and services," Violante said. "It is vital that DAV members continue to remind lawmakers and their staffs that veterans must be a national priority. It's been proven time and again that America's disabled veterans and their families are a strong, vital political force, and we must continue to hold our elected representatives accountable for their actions regarding veterans issues."