'Actions Speak Louder Than Words'

The Bush Budget would double veterans' drug co-pays and cut vocational training for veterans returning to civilian life, and once again, the VA health System will not meet the needs of hundreds of thousands in 2005:

Representing more than 7 million military veterans, The American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars today reaffirmed their unanimous support for fully funding the veterans health care system.

The three largest veterans organizations firmly believe that veterans have earned the right to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical care through their extraordinary sacrifices and service to this nation. Yet, each year funding levels must be determined through an annual appropriations process that is fundamentally broken. Year after year, veterans have fought for sufficient funding for VA health care and a realistic budget that reflects the rising cost of health care and increasing need for medical services. Despite these continued efforts, the cumulative effects of insufficient health care funding have resulted in the rationing of medical care.

.....VA health care is an ongoing cost of war. Every veteran answered the nation’s call to arms without reservation....Short-changing VA health care is short changing every military veteran from Bunker Hill to Baghdad. America's veterans are not expendable and should never be treated as such," said American Legion National Commander Thomas P. Cadmus.

"Especially during this time of war, fully providing for the needs of this nation’s past, present and future defenders is more than a mere contract between this government and its people, it is a moral obligation. No veteran must ever be denied VA health care or benefits for want of federal funding," said VFW Commander-in-Chief John Furgess.

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The neocons should revise the yellow magnetic ribbon campaign. The new ribbon should begin in yellow and fade to black, and read: 'Support the troops ...and abandon veterans.'