We decided to check: Does President Barack Obama intend to cut benefits for veterans?
Expansions to benefits
ObamaÂ’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2012 increases the overall Veterans Affairs budget by more than 10 percent. The numbers are big: from $53 billion in FY 2010 to almost $59 billion in FY 2012.
It provides new benefits for veteransÂ’ caregivers, including health care and mental health services, and invests nearly $1 billion in VA services for homeless veterans and those at risk of becoming homeless.
The White House pointed us to several examples of how VA services have been beefed up, summed up in a comment Obama made in 2009:
"We dramatically increased funding for veterans' health care: more care for women's veterans, for our wounded warriors from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries," Obama said at a 2009 signing of a bill that funds veteransÂ’ medical care a year in advance.
Separately, PolitiFact has given Obama seven Promise Kept ratings on pledges he made to improve services to veterans, compared with zero Promise Brokens.
Proposed cuts
SantorumÂ’s campaign did not respond to our email about his statement, but he may have been referring to Obama's deficit reduction plan, which increases fees for some programs.
In September 2011, Obama submitted his outline for how to pay for his American Jobs Act. It was intended to serve as a guide to the joint committee tasked with finding savings in the federal budget.
In that plan, Obama proposed three possible "reforms" or increases in fees in military programs:
* A new $200 annual fee for TRICARE for Life recipients. Open to veterans 65 and older, TRICARE for Life pays out-of-pocket expenses not covered by Medicare. This proposed fee is estimated to save approximately $6.7 billion over 10 years, according to the plan.
* Increases in pharmacy co-pays. The plan says "co-payments for military members have lagged behind other federal and private plans. For example, the average co-payment for a costly brand-name drug purchased at a drug store by a federal retiree in the most popular medical plan option is estimated to be $45, compared to $9 for a military retiree."
* Review and reform military retirement benefits. The current system, the plan states, "provides generous benefits to the relatively few members who stay for at least 20 years and no benefits for the roughly 80 percent of service members who stay less than 20 years. To consider reforms the Administration plans to set up a commission to develop recommendations for reforming the current military retirement system." We should add that the president suggests grandfathering in those now serving so that major reforms donÂ’t affect them.
Rick Santorum says President Barack Obama wants to cut veteransÂ’ benefits