It certainly seems as though the veterans groups have the power to make a lot of noise against cutting their benefits. The article states that there are 10,000 new veterans entering the system each month, as a result of both the Irag and Afghanistan wars. We simply cannot slash and burn a budget for services whose recipients are growing exponentially EVERY MONTH. I know I would personally prefer to pay higher taxes than to have certain services receiving severe cuts. I understand that the government needs to be aggressive in order to even tackle the deficit, but there are other services that could be deemed less important than the benefits of Veteran's affairs budget... The article does mention the fierce opposition that the veteran's affairs have against any privatization. I think it's a better option that cutting funding all together. Maybe privatizing food services for the veteran's? I understand why they do not want to privatize the uniform services (so that our military are not wearing uniforms that say "made in china"). In all fairness, Veteran's Affairs should have to make some sort of sacrifice like every other service provided by the feds, so couldn't the VA at least improvise with "shopping around" for better prices in the realm of privatization with the generic services that the veterans affairs utilizes?...
I know Representative Bachmann and many other fellow republicans have the same idea of cutting spending by slashing about 400 billion to the budget, but there are just some areas more than others that need that money. Budget cutting sounds like an easy idea at first but it s very hard to realize where exactly it should be cut first. I believe Representative Bachmann's proposal of cutting about 4.5 billion to the Veterans Affairs is very wrong and the last place that we need to do cuts. With about 10,000 troops coming home soon from Afghanistan and Iraq this is the wrong to do these veterans need our help and the least we can do for them is help them out financially. But to simply cut money from the Veterans affairs is easier said than done and I think that Bachmann needs to look elsewhere. I hate to say this but I could understand a limited cut to the Veterans affairs if we were at peace time but currently we are involved in two wars and the least we can do is help our veterans. Privatization may not be a bad idea if it helps cut some money but it has to be carefully thought out before anything drastic happens. If Bachmann really wants to cut money than I suggest she might want to look elsewhere where cuts are needed!
I couldn't agree with you more, Nick. I am astonished that 10,000 veterans are entering the system each month in need of health care. Although, after 10 years of war, this should not be so surprising. Bachmann, like usual, is pushing the envelope too far. If the tea party is willing to cut the already fledgling VA, I can only imagine what they may have planned for the rest of the county. This is something that Americans can simply not allow to occur.
Bachmann's proposals are interesting, at best. I wish this story would of named some other Representatives that are involved in this discussion. If we really want to make this about making the most difficult cuts, lets start somewhere else. There are still two wars going on and pulling the support for servicemen and women is wrong. We went into debt to fight the wars, why stop now? Last I check we are at about 1.2 trillion for our wars.
It certainly seems as though the veterans groups have the power to make a lot of noise against cutting their benefits.
ReplyDeleteThe article states that there are 10,000 new veterans entering the system each month, as a result of both the Irag and Afghanistan wars. We simply cannot slash and burn a budget for services whose recipients are growing exponentially EVERY MONTH.
I know I would personally prefer to pay higher taxes than to have certain services receiving severe cuts. I understand that the government needs to be aggressive in order to even tackle the deficit, but there are other services that could be deemed less important than the benefits of Veteran's affairs budget...
The article does mention the fierce opposition that the veteran's affairs have against any privatization. I think it's a better option that cutting funding all together. Maybe privatizing food services for the veteran's? I understand why they do not want to privatize the uniform services (so that our military are not wearing uniforms that say "made in china"). In all fairness, Veteran's Affairs should have to make some sort of sacrifice like every other service provided by the feds, so couldn't the VA at least improvise with "shopping around" for better prices in the realm of privatization with the generic services that the veterans affairs utilizes?...
I know Representative Bachmann and many other fellow republicans have the same idea of cutting spending by slashing about 400 billion to the budget, but there are just some areas more than others that need that money. Budget cutting sounds like an easy idea at first but it s very hard to realize where exactly it should be cut first. I believe Representative Bachmann's proposal of cutting about 4.5 billion to the Veterans Affairs is very wrong and the last place that we need to do cuts. With about 10,000 troops coming home soon from Afghanistan and Iraq this is the wrong to do these veterans need our help and the least we can do for them is help them out financially. But to simply cut money from the Veterans affairs is easier said than done and I think that Bachmann needs to look elsewhere. I hate to say this but I could understand a limited cut to the Veterans affairs if we were at peace time but currently we are involved in two wars and the least we can do is help our veterans. Privatization may not be a bad idea if it helps cut some money but it has to be carefully thought out before anything drastic happens. If Bachmann really wants to cut money than I suggest she might want to look elsewhere where cuts are needed!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more, Nick. I am astonished that 10,000 veterans are entering the system each month in need of health care. Although, after 10 years of war, this should not be so surprising. Bachmann, like usual, is pushing the envelope too far. If the tea party is willing to cut the already fledgling VA, I can only imagine what they may have planned for the rest of the county. This is something that Americans can simply not allow to occur.
ReplyDeleteBachmann's proposals are interesting, at best. I wish this story would of named some other Representatives that are involved in this discussion. If we really want to make this about making the most difficult cuts, lets start somewhere else. There are still two wars going on and pulling the support for servicemen and women is wrong. We went into debt to fight the wars, why stop now? Last I check we are at about 1.2 trillion for our wars.
ReplyDelete