IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The
following is taken in part from the text of a letter sent by VVA
National President John Rowan to Senator Bernie Sanders, Chairman of the
Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
"It is a sorry state of affairs that our nation is
stuck in a shutdown that should never have transpired but for the
intransigence of a certain few who are blocking a clean Continuing
Resolution (CR). The government needs to be reopened, by passage of a
CR, because Congress has failed to pass the twelve appropriation bills
necessary to fully fund the government for FY 2014. The looming threat
of default, of being unable to pay veterans' compensation and pension
payments on November 1, will cause many veterans who depend on this
money for their survival to have a worsening of their condition,
resulting in avoidable hospitalizations and possibly even preventable
suicides.
"It is the role of Congress to pass the federal budget
by the beginning of the federal fiscal year, October 1. Congress--on
both sides of Capitol Hill-- has failed to accomplish this in a timely
fashion in 23 of the past 27 years. For this reason, the veterans'
service organizations, supported by The Military Coalition and other
groups, united and won from Congress advance appropriations for the VA's
medical accounts, which amount to some 86 percent of the VA's
discretionary budget. In addition, Vietnam Veterans of America fully
supports enactment of H.R. 813, the Putting Veterans Funding First Act
of 2013, which would move the balance of the VA's discretionary accounts
over to advance appropriations.
"The failure of the House to even permit a vote to go
along with the Senate to enact a clean CR has failed America. Even if
the appropriation to the VA was funded, the failure to fund the U.S.
Park Service is but one example of how veterans rely on a federal
government that works. Just as we do not want to see any disruption in
the flow of benefits needed by many veterans and their
families--disability, pension, education, survivor, and other programs
under Title 38—we do not want to see veterans used as pawns in games of
political one-upsmanship. For those in Congress to act as if they had
nothing to do with closing access to the memorials is outrageous
demagoguery. Using veterans as pawns in politics is dishonorable and a
disservice to the honored dead who are memorialized at these sites."
Vietnam
Veterans of America (VVA) is the nation's only congressionally
chartered veterans service organization dedicated to the needs
of Vietnam-era veterans and their families. VVA's founding
principle is
“Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”
No.
13-18
Contact:
Mokie Porter
301-585-4000,
Ext. 146
Source
