An update on Bush's exclusion of veterans and active duty personnel from his "culture of life"

This morning I surfed over to Political Animal to find a post from Kevin Drum entitled "Shortchanging the VA." The basis for the post is an article from today's Washington Post entitled "VA Faces $2.6 Billion Shortfall in Medical Care." Here are some highlights:

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, 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 that 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 that the number has been revised upward to 103,000 for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. He said the original estimates were based on outdated assumptions from 2002.

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

Just last week, the VA revealed that the rise in demand for VA health facilities 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.

Before explaining why Nicholson and the Bush administration are completely full of shit, let's take a look at how the Washington Post describes some reaction from Republicans:

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 preempt a Democratic proposal calling for $1.42 billion in increased VA spending.

The action represents a reversal of GOP policies toward the VA. For the past four months, House and Senate Republicans have repeatedly defeated Democratic amendments to boost VA medical funding.

Nicholson, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, 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 E. Craig (R-Idaho) told Nicholson. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) told Nicholson that the failure to alert Congress earlier about the VA's money problems "borders on stupidity."

(emphasis added). Borders on stupidity? The best thing one could say is that it goes beyond stupidity and borders on criminal negligence. Does that seem extreme? If so, then read the paragraph and see what you think.

Kevin Drum also links to some analysis by Michael Froomkin, who cites a report from today's "Morning Edition" on NPR. The NPR report is definitely worth a listen, but Froomkin provides a good summary:

The Senate is voting today on a $1.5 billion extra appropriation for VA health care. The VA based its inadequate request in the current budget on the amount it needed in 2002, i.e. planning for medical care as if there were not a war in Iraq. Similarly, when the administration asked for a supplemental appropriation for Iraq—having left it out of the budget to be able to claim the deficit was smaller than everyone knew it actually was—Democratic Senator Patty Murry proposed adding more money for the VA. The administration said it wasn’t needed.

In the NPR clip, a Republican senator asks Secretary Nicholson why the VA couldn’t see this medical funding budget gap coming. Nicholson, in a truly idiotic move, said his department didn’t get caught by surprise—they’ve known about it since April—but just didn’t tell Congress!!!

Yesterday Sen. Murray asked Nicholson if, having said there was no problem when she proposed the extra money for the supplemental appropriation [and, I might add, having repeated that lie two months ago], Nicholson is [not] willing to say that we have a problem now. All he’d say is “we have a situation.”

(emphasis added). And that "situation" is that there is a massive mound of steaming bullshit on the ground.

Kevin Drum provides some spot on analysis to close his post:

This is a pathetic performance from an administration that pretends to care about national security. Bush can give all the primetime speeches he wants about his duty to our troops, but stuff like this makes it obvious that he's willing to throw that duty aside if it means taking even a tiny political risk on their behalf. What's more, congressional Republicans, who have been warned about this repeatedly by both Democrats and fellow Republicans, are equally culpable, despite their shocked professions of anger and embarrassment yesterday.

And all of this goes back to my point that Bush is a shameless fraud when he talks about a "culture of life" because he has utterly neglected the needs of disabled people who have served in our nation's military, many of whom have been injured in a war that he ordered. I have said it before, and I will say it again: this goes beyond hypocrisy and heads straight ino immorality.