[ This is about the only thing that Obama has done lately that I agree with. At the least, our debt vets deserve a cemetery to be buried in. Still, nothing precludes going after the bureaucracy and inefficiencies of the VA! – JS ]
By Ed O’Keefe at The Washington Post
The president's budget proposal would provide $58.8 billion for operational costs at the Department of Veterans Affairs and an additional $65.5 billion for veterans benefits
The request is about 8 percent larger than what was provided in the fiscal 2010 budget. It includes $208 million to expand benefits for those caring for service members severely wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The president signed legislation authorizing the program last year, but critics blame the department for missing a Jan. 31 deadline to fully implement it.
The budget includes $270 million for health issues affecting female veterans, a 26 percent increase. The department would spend $939 million to continue expanding VA's homelessness prevention programs, a major priority of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki. The plan would cut $709 million in military construction funding and shift most of the money to care and benefits programs, but it would fund five new national cemeteries.
Spending proposals by House Republicans for fiscal 2011 also would cut VA construction programs but leave the rest of the department's budget relatively intact.
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