“I am worried about the fate of these accomplishments,” said the ranking congressional member of the House of Representatives Veterans Affairs Committee Mark Takano.
The “accomplishments” Congressman Takano cited were the more than eighty (80) congressional bills introduced and signed into law by the 117th Congressional Session to help disabled veterans obtain the medical care and disability benefits they earned.
The most important landmark bill passed during the 117th Congressional Session was the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act of 2022. The PACT Act, signed in law in August of 2022.
The law removed the barrier that prevented 3.5 million veterans from receiving Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care and disability comprehension that they earned by being exposed to Agent Orange, toxic burn pits, atomic radiation, and other contaminants during their military service.
As of August 23, 2023, over 750,000 disabled veterans had filed VA disability claims and sought medical care under the PACT Act.
When Congressman Takano, a strong supporter of disabled veterans, spoke those words concerning “accomplishments,” the 118th Congressional Session had just started.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) had submitted, at the start of the 118th Session, a proposal to reduce federal spending and cover the financial deficit by slashing the VA budget by twenty (20%) percent.
On July 27, 2023, the House of Representatives approved H.R. 4366, the 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Act. This Act will fully fund the VA health care, benefits, programs, and services for the next fiscal year.
The vote on the passage of H.R. 4366 was a narrow 219 representatives in favor and 211 representatives voting against the bill. The bill was then sent to the Senate to debate and review provisions of the spending bill so that the VA can start 2024 with a finalized budget.
Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) like the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) are concerned that H.R. 4366 passed by only eight (8) votes.
All the “accomplishments” cited by Representative Takano could be in serious jeopardy by failure to fully fund the VA health care and disability benefits contained within H.R. 4366.
The “accomplishments” enacted into law were not just introduced and passed during the brief two (2) year duration of the 117th Congressional Session. VSOs have been fighting for these “accomplishments,” which our disabled veterans have earned, for many years.
For example, VSOs have been fighting for veteran benefits for exposure to Agent Orange for several decades and for exposure to the toxic open burn pits since 2007. We still have “atomic veterans” that are being deprived of their VA medical benefits as well as Korean War veterans.
Takano wants our veterans to “be aware of” any proposals by Congress to reducing the federal deficit by slashing the VA’s budget, such as proposed by the CBO earlier this year. This is why the Senate must take action to pass their version of H.R. 4366 and have it enacted into law to guarantee the VA’s budget for 2024.
My Opinion: Many of our veterans forgot what happened in January of 2019 when the House of Representatives and the Senate could not agree to a compromise bill for the federal budget.
The United States federal government shut down starting December 22, 2018 until January 25, 2019 when a compromise budget was passed. This was the longest government shutdown in our Nation’s history and hundreds of thousands of federal employees were not paid.
The entire U.S. Coast Guard, which is under the Department of Homeland Security, continued to serve during the government shutdown for over thirty (30) days without pay. The American Legion stepped in and issued over $1.1 million in Temporary Financial Assistance grants to assist junior enlisted Coast Guard personnel with children at home.
VSOs must ensure that Congress is aware that disabled veterans are a long-term cost of maintaining the peace and in times of war. Since 9/11, we have over two decades of new disabled veterans now being eligible for VA medical care and their rightfully earned benefits.
We must ensure that the previous generations of World War II; the Korean War; Vietnam; and the Persian Gulf Wars veterans continue to receive the proper VA medical care as well as the new generation of disabled veterans.
We can only do so by having Congress provide the proper and necessary funding to the VA to accomplish their mission. Balancing the federal budget and reducing the existing federal deficit by slashing the proposed VA budget by twenty (20%) percent (as proposed by the CBO) should not even be considered by Congress.
Congressman Takano is correct that all the benefits and compensation earned by our disabled veterans during the 117th Congressional Session should not be reduced by Congress to balance the budget.
VSOs, like the American Legion; Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), must be vigilant that the Senate maintain the VA’s budget to fulfill their promises to our disabled veterans!
Without proper funding to support the “accomplishments of the 117th Congressional Session” these are just empty promises made by Congress!
BioSketch: John Plahovinsak is a retired 32-year Army veteran, who served from 1967 to 1999. He is the current Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Department of Ohio Hospital Chairman and Adjutant of DAV Chapter #63 (Clermont County). He can be reached at: plahovinsak@msn.com.