BUSH: cuts to vets' health care

McNulty opposes cuts to vets' health care
By: Robert Cristo, The Record
02/08/2005

At a time when the nation's leaders are asking troops to risk their lives overseas, many are wondering why President Bush is looking to cut health care payments for veterans.

After warning during his State of the Union address last week that he would make drastic spending cuts to nearly 150 federal programs, more specifics were revealed Monday in his $2.57 trillion budget for 2006 that increases military spending but asks some veterans to double their co-pay for prescription drugs.

The proposal, which is expected to draw heavy fire in Congress, would also require some veterans to pay a $250 annual fee for their federally delivered health care.
After attending a morning ceremony honoring three wounded local Army National Guardsmen at the state Division of Military and Naval Affairs in Latham, Rep. Michael McNulty, D-Green Island, called the proposal an "outrageous" slight to veterans who fought for their country.

"I just came from a Purple Heart ceremony for three injured soldiers. ... The last thing I want to see happen is cuts in services for these or any other soldiers," said McNulty. "I vehemently disagree with the way he's (Bush) going with the budget, and I hope even old-line conservatives will also disagree."

McNulty also contends that Bush shouldn't be cutting back veterans' benefits or programs for the poor at the same time he's doling out tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy and seeks to borrow $2 trillion to fund his plan to privatize a chunk of Social Security.
All of this, McNulty contends, only exacerbates the ballooning $7.6 trillion national debt.

Local veterans said they were offended by the proposed cuts they believe come at an expense to those who were injured in the defense of liberty.

"I just heard a little about it, and I think it's absolutely terrible that in this time of conflict Bush could have the gall to propose cutting benefits," said Korean War veteran Edward Hurley, 73, who is also the Albany County Veterans Service Bureau director.

"Tax cuts shouldn't come at the expense of vets who fought and then have to come back here to find they can't receive adequate care," he added.

Hurley is hopeful that Bush's proposal will be met with heavy resistance in Washington over the next few months.
"I'm pretty confident that Congress will step up and take care of our vets, so I'm fairly confident this won't fly" said Hurley.

However, McNulty warns that the Bush administration has gotten through hikes on prescription co-pay charges before and has looked to make cuts to funding for veteran's hospitals.

"I certainly hope it gets squashed, but (Bush has) been able to erode some benefits, so I can't confidently say it won't happen again," said McNulty. "People need to take this seriously and fight for those benefits."

Representatives from the Stratton VA Medical Center on Holland Avenue in Albany did not return calls to discuss how the proposed plan could affect patients and/or hospital care.

The Washington-based Department of Veteran's Affairs issued a press release Monday that fully supported Bush's "record" $70.8 billion proposal that "overwhelmingly" targets support for health care and disability compensation."

"This budget demonstrates the president's ongoing commitment to provide the very best health care and benefits to those veterans who count on VA the most," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson, in a release.

VA officials also wanted to point out that the cuts would only impact "higher income" veterans and those being treated for non-military related injuries or ailments.
In addition to the cuts, the president's plan also includes:
ä Ending all co-pays for former prisoners of war.

ä Allowing more resources to be devoted to homeless providers and per diem programs.

ä Authorizing VA to pay for emergency care of urgent care for enrolled veterans in non-VA medical facilities.
ä Ending all co-payments for hospice care.
ä $90 million earmarked for construction projects.
The VA is expecting to provide medical services to more than 5.2 million patients in 2006.

For more information, go to the Veterans Affairs website at http://www.va.gov/ and click FY2006 Budget Proposal.

====================
"This budget proposal guarantees that the department will
be able to care for those veterans who count on VA the most."
-- Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson
http://www.va.gov/opa/06budget/index.htm

===================================

Veterans, poor and the elderly would feel effects of Bush cuts
Dallas Morning News (subscription), TX - 23 hours ago
... are Medicaid, education, food stamps and veterans health programs ... Some cuts have been tried before, and many ... income families fare under this budget, the answer ...
MORE:>>

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News results for BUSH LIES & LIES & LIES

Who's Exaggerating Now?

Bush Exaggerates, Misinforms, Misleads and Waffles 24 Times in One Debate!

Compiled by Jerry Politex at Bush Watch
http://pearly-abraham.tripod.com/htmls/bushlies1.html

1. Bush: "We went into Russia, we said, 'Here's some IMF money,' and it ended up in Viktor Chernomyrdin's pocket and others."

Fact: "Bush appears to have tangled up whispers about possible wrongdoing by Chernomyrdin -- who co-chaired a commission with Gore on U.S.-Russian relations -- with other unrelated allegations concerning the diversion of International Monetary Fund money. While there has been speculation that Chernomyrdin profited from his relationship with Gazprom, a big Russian energy concern, there have been no allegations that he stole IMF money." Washingon Post, 10/12/00

2. Bush: "We got one [a hate crime law] in Texas, and guess what? The three men who murdered James Byrd, guess what's going to happen to them? They're going to be put to death ... It's going to be hard to punish them any worse after they get put to death....We're happy with our laws on our books."

Fact: "The three were convicted under Texas' capital murder statute...The state has a hate crime statute, but it is vague." LA Times, 10/12/00.
"The original Texas hate-crimes bill, signed into law by Democrat Ann Richards, boosted penalties for crimes motivated by bigotry. As Gore correctly noted, Bush maneuvered to make sure a new hate-crimes law related to the Byrd killing did not make it to his desk. The new bill would have included homosexuals among the groups covered, which would have been anathema to social conservatives in the state." Washington Post, 10/12/00

3. Bush: bragged that in Texas he was signing up children for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as "fast as any other state."

Fact: "As governor he fought to unsuccessfully to limit access to the program. He would have limited its coverage to children with family incomes up to 150 percent of the poverty level, though federal law permitted up to 200 percent. The practical effect of Bush's efforts would have been to exclude 200,000 of the 500,000 possible enrollees." Washington Post, 10/12/00

4. Bush: "He [Gore] is for registration of guns."

Fact: "Gore actually favors licensing for new handgun purchasers but nothing as vast as registering all guns." Salon, 10/12/00

5. Bush: Said he found Gore's tendency to exaggerate "an issue in trying to defend my tax relief package. There was some exaggeration about the numbers" in the first debate.

Fact: "No, there wasn't, and Bush himself acknowledged that the next day on ABC's Good Morning America when Charlie Gibson pinned him on it." Salon, 10/12/00

6. Bush: "I felt during his debate with Senator [Bill] Bradley saying he [Gore] authored the EITC [earned-income tax credit] when it didn't happen."

Fact: "Actually, Gore had claimed to have authored an 'expansion of the earned-income tax credit,' which he did in 1991." Salon, 10/12/00

7. Fact: Gore noted that Texas "ranks 49th out of the 50 states in healthcare in children with healthcare, 49th for women with healthcare and 50th for families with healthcare"

Bush: "You can quote all the numbers you want but I'm telling you we care about our people in Texas. We spent a lot of money to make sure people get healthcare in the state of Texas."

8. Fact: Gore said, "I'm no expert on the Texas procedures, but what my friends there tell me is that the governor opposed a measure put forward by Democrats in the Legislature to expand the number of children that would be covered ... And instead [he] directed the money toward a tax cut, a significant part of which went to wealthy interests."

Bush: "If he's trying to allege I'm a hardhearted person and don't care about children, he's absolutely wrong."

9. Bush: "The three men who murdered James Byrd, guess what's going to happen to them? They'll be put to death. A jury found them guilty."

Fact: Two of the three are being put to death. The other was given life. Bush Watch, 10/12/00

10. Bush: said he favored "equal" rights for gays and lesbians, but not "special" rights.

Fact: "Bush has supported a Texas law that allows the state to take adopted children from gay and lesbian couples to place the kids with straight couples." Salon, 10/12/00.
"Bush supports hate crime protections for other minorities! So Bush doesn't believe that gays should have the same 'special' rights in this regard as blacks, Jews, Wiccans and others. Employment discrimination? Again, Bush supports those rights for other Americans, but not gays. Military service? Bush again supports the right to military service for all qualified people--as long as they don't tell anyone they're gay. Marriage? How on earth is that a special right when every heterosexual in America already has it? But again, Bush thinks it should be out-of-bounds for gays. What else is there? The right to privacy? Nuh-huh. Bush supports a gays-only sodomy law in his own state that criminalizes consensual sex in private between two homosexuals." New Republic, 10/13/00

11. Bush. "We ought to do everything we can to end racial profiling."

Fact: The Texas Department of Public Safety has just this year begun keeping detailed information about the race and sex of all people stopped by its troopers, the sixth year Bush has been in office. Salon, 10/12/00

12. Bush got caught not giving the full story on Texas air pollution laws. He was correct in saying the 1999 utility deregulation bill he signed into law had mandatory emissions standards.

Fact: "What was missing, as Gore's campaign pointed out, was that many more non-utility industrial plants are not mandated to reduce air quality. The issue is an important one because Texas ranks near the bottom in air-quality standards. Bush instead approved a voluntary program allowing grandfathered oil, coal, and other industrial plants to cut down on pollution." Boston Globe, 10/12/00

13. Bush: About the Balkans, "I think it ought to be one of our priorities to work with our European friends to convince them to put troops on the ground."

Fact: "European forces already make up a large majority of the peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Kosovo." Washington Post, 10/12/00

14. Bush: "One of the problems we have in the military is we're in a lot of places around the world" and cited Haiti as an example.

Fact: "Though approximately 20,000 U.S. troops went to Haiti in 1994, as of late August this year, there were only 109 U.S. troops in Haiti and most were rotating through as part of an exercise." Washington Post, 10/12/00

15. Bush: "I don't think we ought to be selling guns to people who shouldn't have them. That's why I support instant background checks at gun shows. One of the reasons we have an instant background check is so that we instantly know whether or not someone should have a gun or not."

Fact: "Bush overstates the effectiveness of instant background checks for people trying to buy guns ... The Los Angeles Times reported on Oct. 3 that during Bush's term as governor, Texas granted licenses for carrying concealed guns to hundreds of people with criminal records and histories of drug problems, violence or psychological disorders." Washington Post, 10/12/00
"He didn't mention that Texas failed to perform full background checks on 407 people who had prior criminal convictions but were granted concealed handgun licenses under a law he signed in 1995. Of those, 71 had convictions that should have excluded them from having a concealed gun permit, the Texas Department of Public Safety acknowledged." AP, 10/12/00

16. Bush:"Said the number of Texans without health insurance had declined while the number in the United States had risen."

Fact: " A new Census Bureau report says the number of uninsured Americans declined last year for the first time since statistics were kept in 1987. About 42.5 million people, or 15.5 percent of the population, lacked insurance in 1999, compared with 44.2 million, or 16.3 percent, in 1998, the agency reported. Texas ranked next-to-last in the nation last year with 23.3 percent of its residents uninsured. But that was an improvement from 1998, when it ranked 50th at 24.5 percent." AP, 10/12/00

17. Bush: "Some of the scientists, I believe, Mr. Vice President, haven't they been changing their opinion a little bit on global warming?"

Fact: "Bush's dismissive comments about global warming could bolster the charge that he and fellow oilman Dick Cheney are in the pocket of the oil industry, which likewise pooh-poohs the issue. [While] there is no consensus about the impact of global warming, ... most scientists agree that humans are contributing to the rising global temperature. 'Most climate experts are certain that global warming is real and that it threatens ecology and human prosperity, and a growing number say it is well under way,' wrote New York Times science writer Andrew Revkin." Salon, 10/13/00

18. Bush: When Jim Lehrer asked Bush if he approved of the U.S. intervention in Lebanon during the Reagan years, Bush answered a quick "yes" and moved on.

Fact: "Lebanon was a disaster in the history of American foreign affairs. Next to Iran-Contra, it was the Reagan administration's greatest overseas fiasco. Quoting from the Encyclopedia of the American Presidency: '[In 1983] Reagan stumbled into a disastrous intervention in the Middle East when he sent U.S. Marines into Lebanon on an ill-defined mission as part of an international peacekeeping force.' In December, according to Reagan biographer Edmund Morris, 'two days before Christmas, a Pentagon commission of inquiry into the Beirut barracks bombing humiliated [Secretary of State] Shultz [who had backed the intervention], and embarrassed Reagan, by concluding that the dead Marines had been victims of a myopic Middle Eastern policy.'" tompaine.com, 10/11/00

19. Bush: "I thought the president made the right decision in joining NATO and bombing Serbia. I supported him when they did so."

Fact: The bombing of Serbia began on March 24, 1999, and Bush did not express even measured support until April 8, 1999 -- nearly two weeks later. Prior to April 8, 1999, every comment by Bush about the bombing was non-committal. Finally, he offered a measured endorsement: "It's important for the United States to be slow to engage the military, but once the military is engaged, it must be engaged with one thing in mind, and that is victory," he said after being pressed by reporters. A Houston Chronicle story documented the Governor's statements on the crisis and reported that "Bush has been widely criticized for being slow to adopt a position on Kosovo and then for making vague statements on the subject." Houston Chronicle, 4/9/99
MORE:>>
http://pearly-abraham.tripod.com/htmls/bushlies1.html