House GOP votes to slash services for veterans
House Republicans voted Wednesday to cut veterans’ services significantly and limit their health care. That’s just one aspect of Barely Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling and budget cuts extortion package that passed 217-215, with all but four Republicans voting for it. Those four didn’t think the cuts were deep enough.
The bill would roll back spending for the 2024 fiscal year to 2022 levels, except for defense spending. Because it’s exempted, everything else would be cut by much more. That’s an estimated 22% cut, which the Veterans Administration says would mean the immediate loss of $2 billion in funding for veterans services, and 30 million fewer veteran outpatient visits. The VA would lose 81,000 jobs. That would mean fewer employees to answer veterans’ phone calls, schedule health visits, process their disability claims, and provide other critical services.
The cuts would hurt rural veterans in particular, cutting necessary technology infrastructure and support for telehealth programs for vets who live far from the VA facilities they rely upon. The cuts would also limit the availability of medical equipment and technology provided to vets so they can have telehealth appointments from home.
A frequent complaint about the VA from veterans is the backlog of benefits claims. This Republican budget would slash 6,000 jobs from the Veterans Benefits Administration, meaning an estimated 134,000 pending benefits claims would be added to the current backlog. That would mean longer wait for pensions, life insurance, GI Bill educational support, and employment counseling and services.