The VA Budget

Bush is being accused of slashing the budget for Veterans Affairs. Win Without War claims that Bush is going to cut $25 billion from the VA's budget over the next 10 years. Well, that's only $2.5 billion a year, and many of the WW-II and Korean veterans will have passed on. So that might make some demographic sense. However, let's have a look at these budget numbers and see what the truth really is about Bush's shocking budget cuts for veterans.

Let's go straight to the horse's mouth, so to speak, the Office of Budget, Dept of Veterans Affairs.

This summary PDF file contains the following

General 2004 Budget Highlights Summary • The 2004 President’s budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides approximately $63.6 billion for veterans’ benefits and services: $30.2 billion in discretionary funding and $33.4 billion for entitlements.

Wow. That's alot of money. Then it goes on to say

The request for discretionary programs
provides $3.2 billion (with collections) or 11.9 percent, over last year’s funding
level.

Hmm... Voices against War says the VA is being cut by $25 billion, and the VA says they're getting $3.2 billion more than they were before.

The same summary for the 2003 budget said

2003 Budget Highlights Summary The 2003 President’s budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) provides approximately $56.6 billion for veterans’ benefits and services: $26.4 billion for discretionary programs (without medical care collections) and $30.1 billion for entitlements

.

Hmm.... So we were spending $56.6 billion, and if we took $25 billion away from that, we get $63.6 billion, not $31.6 billion that we were taught to expect using conventional second grade mathematics. Normally a simpleton like me would say that $63.6 billion is $7 billion more than $56.6 billion, but obviously I'm mistaken or all those enlightened liberals wouldn't be calling it a drastic cut.

The 2003 budget document also says

By including the additional funding for new initiatives, the total discretionary increase is $2.6 billion, or 11 percent. With an expected increase in medical care collections of approximately $400 million, this brings the total discretionary increase to $3.1 billion, or 12.2 percent.

So the 2003 proposed Veterans Affairs' budget was much larger, by 11 to 12 percent, than the 2002 spending levels.

So what was the VA budget like under Clinton? Well this VA news release on their 1999 budget says

Expanded access to quality health care, increases in funding for research and education benefits, and the opening of four national cemeteries in the next two years are included in the President's proposed 1999 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

VA's 1999 budget will provide authority of approximately $42.8 billion and outlays of $43.2 billion for the department. It includes funding for benefits and services for the country's more than 25 million veterans and approximately 44 million family members.

Hmm... The 2004 figure of $63.6 billion is 1.47 times more than the $43.2 billion figure of 1999. A difference of $20.4 billion dollars. Almost exactly the opposite of what the howling moonbats are saying.
The 1999 document also says

VA's budget includes a $17 billion appropriation request for medical care, the same as 1998.

The 2004 Budget document said

VA is requesting $25.4 billion for the direct Medical Care Business Line appropriation, an increase of $1.5 billion, 6.4 percent, in direct appropriation over the 2003 estimate to provide medical care
for 4.8 million unique patients.

That's $8.4 billion more being budgeted on VA health care in 2004 than in 1999. Almost a 50% increase.

Try as I might, I can't find these VA Budget cuts that everyone keeps harping on. Maybe it's like the "Plastic Turkey" they keep bitching about.