VA expects to be short $2.6 billion for vet care

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration disclosed yesterday that it had vastly underestimated the number of service personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking medical treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and warned that the health-care programs will be short at least $2.6 billion next year unless Congress approves additional funds.

Veterans Affairs budget documents projected 23,553 veterans would return this year from Iraq and Afghanistan and seek medical treatment. However, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson told a Senate committee the number has been revised upward to 103,000 for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. He said the original estimate was based on outdated assumptions.

"The bottom line is there is a surge in demand in VA [health] services across the board," Nicholson told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Last week, the VA revealed the rise in demand had caused a $1 billion shortfall in operating funds for the current year. That would more than double in the coming year without congressional intervention.

Senate Republicans, embarrassed and angered over the revelations, yesterday announced plans to pass emergency legislation this morning to add $1.5 billion to the fiscal 2005 appropriation.

The move is designed to appease angry veterans groups and pre-empt a Democratic proposal calling for $1.42 billion in increased VA spending. The action represents a reversal of GOP policies. For the past four months, House and Senate Republicans have repeatedly defeated Democratic amendments to boost VA medical funding.

Nicholson faced criticism from House and Senate committee chairmen at two hearings. "I sit here having recently learned that the information provided to me thus far has been disturbingly inaccurate," Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Larry Craig, R-Idaho, told Nicholson.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., told Nicholson the failure to alert Congress earlier to the problems "borders on stupidity."

As GOP House and Senate leaders scrambled to deal with the politically damaging shortfall and quell criticism from veterans groups, Democrats intensified charges that the Bush administration and the Republican congressional majorities are failing to care for those who put their lives on the line for the country.

"Republicans can't hide from their record of neglecting our nation's veterans," said a statement from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. The statement cited repeated rejection by the Senate Republican majority of amendments sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., to boost spending.