President Trump: US Can’t Afford Veterans’ Health Care Without Cuts

[basquebromance]

White House: U.S. Can’t Afford Veterans’ Health Care Without Cuts

Seriously? This administration gave a $1.5 trillion tax cut to the 1%. Now they're telling us they can't afford health care for those of us who put on a uniform to serve our country. This is shameful.

 

[depotoo]

White House: U.S. Can’t Afford Veterans’ Health Care Without Cuts

Seriously? This administration gave a $1.5 trillion tax cut to the 1%. Now they're telling us they can't afford health care for those of us who put on a uniform to serve our country. This is shameful.

Seriously? That is his point, I believe.

He will give it, he just wants it offset by other cuts in other areas of government. And we all know there is waste everywhere-

In a letter Monday, the Trump administration demanded that lawmakers fund a popular veterans’ health-care program — which allows former troops to spend public funds on private doctors and hospitals — with cuts to other parts of the budget. Democrats, and some top Senate Republicans, prefer to raise the current caps on discretionary spending instead.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

White House: U.S. Can’t Afford Veterans’ Health Care Without Cuts

Seriously? This administration gave a $1.5 trillion tax cut to the 1%. Now they're telling us they can't afford health care for those of us who put on a uniform to serve our country. This is shameful.

Seriously? That is his point, I believe.

He will give it, he just wants it offset by other cuts in other areas of government. And we all know there is waste everywhere-

In a letter Monday, the Trump administration demanded that lawmakers fund a popular veterans’ health-care program — which allows former troops to spend public funds on private doctors and hospitals — with cuts to other parts of the budget. Democrats, and some top Senate Republicans, prefer to raise the current caps on discretionary spending instead.

What cuts does Trump propose?

 

[Darkwind]

White House: U.S. Can’t Afford Veterans’ Health Care Without Cuts

Seriously? This administration gave a $1.5 trillion tax cut to the 1%. Now they're telling us they can't afford health care for those of us who put on a uniform to serve our country. This is shameful.

From your link...

In a letter Monday, the Trump administration demanded that lawmakers fund a popular veterans’ health-care program — which allows former troops to spend public funds on private doctors and hospitals — with cuts to other parts of the budget

Sounds to Me like they are making an argument that we need to start prioritizing spending. We need to cut other area's of the budget if this is important to people. I would make the argument that we should cut areas of the budget with the exception of those areas that keep us safe, but the argument hasn't even progressed to the fact that it isn't the tax cuts that are the problem.

 

[Tehon]

The President is holding veterans hostage as a negotiating ploy. Winning!

 

[BULLDOG]

White House: U.S. Can’t Afford Veterans’ Health Care Without Cuts

Seriously? This administration gave a $1.5 trillion tax cut to the 1%. Now they're telling us they can't afford health care for those of us who put on a uniform to serve our country. This is shameful.

From your link...

In a letter Monday, the Trump administration demanded that lawmakers fund a popular veterans’ health-care program — which allows former troops to spend public funds on private doctors and hospitals — with cuts to other parts of the budget

Sounds to Me like they are making an argument that we need to start prioritizing spending. We need to cut other area's of the budget if this is important to people. I would make the argument that we should cut areas of the budget with the exception of those areas that keep us safe, but the argument hasn't even progressed to the fact that it isn't the tax cuts that are the problem.

Yet you don't say which programs you want to cut. You need to be specific.

 

[Crepitus]

$1.5 trillion for the wealthy, cuts for our wounded, sick, or aging vetrans.

Welcome to the *tRump administration*.

 

[BlackFlag]

White House: U.S. Can’t Afford Veterans’ Health Care Without Cuts

Seriously? This administration gave a $1.5 trillion tax cut to the 1%. Now they're telling us they can't afford health care for those of us who put on a uniform to serve our country. This is shameful.

Good hopefully Trump takes their coverage. Maybe they'll stop voting for the party that sees them as cannon fodder.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Well, I guess this shows how much Trump loves and respects the troops.

 

[ABikerSailor]

White House: U.S. Can’t Afford Veterans’ Health Care Without Cuts

Seriously? This administration gave a $1.5 trillion tax cut to the 1%. Now they're telling us they can't afford health care for those of us who put on a uniform to serve our country. This is shameful.

Good hopefully Trump takes their coverage. Maybe they'll stop voting for the party that sees them as cannon fodder.

I'd rather vote for a party that sees me as cannon fodder and gives me healthcare for my service rather than the party that says they respect the troops but yet cuts their healthcare.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

So, no suggestion of what cuts to make?

That's our Trump! The best leader with the best words.

 

[WillowTree]

I swear to god there is not one brain cell to share among you libtards! What a bunch of parrots.

 

[eagle1462010]

VA Reforms Removed from Massive Spending Bill

Earlier this week, the bill was set to contain a measure to overhaul the VA Choice program, which veterans use to access private-sector medical care. A deal reached between key House and Senate lawmakers on VA oversight also included an expansion of benefits for veteran caregivers, as well as a plan to initiate a systematic review of VA infrastructure, with the intention of disposing of aging and underused facilities nationwide.


When Congress unveiled its $1.3 trillion, 2,232-page bill Wednesday evening, the VA reforms had been omitted.

House Democrats were opposed to the deal.

Griffin Anderson, a spokesman for Democrats on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, said they were against a measure to expand caregiver benefits because it didn't provide a clear way to fund those changes.

 

[whitehall]

He never said that. It's fake news.The link is a convoluted op-ed concerning budget caps and rearranged methods of payment within the VA and it is still being argued in congress.

 

[eagle1462010]

Trump Signs $55 Billion Bill to Replace VA Choice Program

President Donald Trump signed a landmark bill Wednesday to replace the troubled Veterans Choice Program and expand private health care options amid a fight between the White House and Congress over how to pay for it.

The bill, the VA Mission Act, would also expand caregivers assistance to the families of disabled veterans and order an inventory of the Department of Veterans Affairs' more than 1,100 facilities with a long-term view to trimming excess.


"This is a very big day," said Trump, who made veterans care one of the signature issues of his run for the White House. "All during the campaign, I'd say, 'Why can't they just go out and see a doctor instead of standing on line?'

"This is truly a historic moment, a historic time for our country," he continued, before signing the bill at a White House Rose Garden ceremony. "We're allowing our veterans to get access to the best medical care available, whether it's at the VA or at a private provider."

In his remarks, Trump did not mention that funds to pay for the bill have yet to be identified, or that the White House and Congress are at odds on funding mechanisms. The bill's projected costs over five years are also in dispute.

 

[Anathema]

Yet you don't say which programs you want to cut. You need to be specific.

Let’s start by dismantling the following Departments/Prograns...

Education, Energy, HUD, Medicare, Social Security, all other non VA social programs...

 

[eagle1462010]

Trump tried to expand VA benefits in the omnibus spending bill............it included funding for repairs and expansion of facilities........it also expanded the Choice program to more people..........

But then the wind turned and people started to ***** about the Choice program...........so now he is trying a new program...........and STILL CONGRESS will FUND NONE OF IT........................

He tried to do it in Omnibus ..............DEMS BLOCKED IT..............

Now they BLOCK THE NEW PLAN...................over funding........

And now we have a thread saying Trump is the problem and how bad he is............

Typical HYPOCRISY in an election year.

 

[eagle1462010]

VA and the Problem of Old Properties

Can these buildings be repurposed, instead of maintained—barely, at that—at a cost of more than $7 million a year? That’s a problem that VA Secretary David J. Shulkin has been wrestling with since coming into office with the charge of trimming costs and streamlining operations. In June, without much fanfare, he announced a plan to dispose of all such vacant buildings within two years, either by disposing of them or taking a wreckers’ ball to them. “We owe it to the American taxpayer to apply as much of our funding as possible to helping veterans,” Shulkin remarked, adding, “maintaining vacant buildings … makes no sense.”

Adding to this program will be a comprehensive review of another 784 underutilized VA buildings, with an overall goal of freezing the agency’s real property footprint through a variety of strategies, including telecommuting and freeing space by digitizing paper files. One interesting wrinkle is that the agency may lease more space than it now does rather than own its properties outright. In all, Shulkin projects that these actions will cut annual costs by $23 million, beginning this year, when 71 buildings are scheduled for disposal.

In some instances, the Times story notes, the VA sits on the horns of a dilemma. A vacant old building does no one any good just sitting unoccupied, and it costs money to keep it up—a single theater on the Milwaukee campus a total of more than $3 million just to repair leaking old windows and repair the roof. By the same token, these well-built structures aren’t easy to take down, and it may cost more to do so than maintaining them. In either instance, the buildings cost the VA money it does not have.

 

[eagle1462010]

More gov't waste.........VA funds going to vacant and unused buildings...............

They want to sell or destroy them to avoid the maintenance costs.................

As the last article states..........They need to take care of veterans ........not old vacant buildings.

 

[eagle1462010]

https://veterans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/va_mission_act_summary.pdf

This is the act Trump just signed................

Again..........Congress and especially Dems are blocking new spending..................WHY?