Dean: President Bush Continues To Fail Our Veterans

Today, President Bush is visiting Walter Reed Hospital, the epicenter of the growing scandal about how his Administration has let down our wounded men and women in uniform and veterans. The revelations about Walter Reed were the tip of the iceberg. Following the revelations at Walter Reed, the Army’s acting Surgeon General found that veterans are suffering because the “original war plans didn't take into consideration how long the fighting would last.” [AP, 3/27/07] A report in today’s New York Times found lapses in the use of digital medical record systems used to track the medical records of wounded soldiers has led to medical mistakes and delays in care. [New York Times, 3/30/07] As the scandal continues to unfold, it’s become increasingly clear that once again the Bush Administration’s lack of planning, President Bush’s repeated cuts to the Veterans Administration budget and his lack of attention to this critical issue have all led to poor care for our men and women in uniform after they have left the battlefield.

To begin to address these critical problems, Democrats in the House and Senate have both passed supplemental spending bills for the Iraq war that include billions in additional funding for our veterans. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement reaffirming Democrats’ support for our troops and veterans:

“It’s good to see the President finally getting out of the White House, but he still fails to realize that our brave troops and veterans require real leadership that addresses the needs of our wounded men and women in uniform, not photo ops, constant budget cuts and hollow promises. The way President Bush and his Administration have failed our wounded and veterans is an appalling disgrace. While the commander-in-chief has forgotten his duty to honor the sacrifices of our brave men and women in uniform when they return home, Democrats are making sure that those sacrifices are not forgotten and that our nation provides the resources they need on the battlefield and the care they deserve when they return home.”

The Bush Administration’s Record Of Failure On Care For Our Veterans

Acting Surgeon General Admits Medical Care For Wounded Troops Lacking. “As troops come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, there aren't enough nurses and mental health specialists to meet their needs. That assessment today from the Army's acting Surgeon General, Gale Pollock. She was given the job after Kevin Kiley was forced to resign amid the scandal over poor treatment of the wounded at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Pollock told a House Armed Services subcommittee the original war plans didn't take into consideration how long the fighting would last. And she said ‘we have not been able to do the hiring’ of needed personnel.” [AP, 3/27/07]

Veterans’ Administration Not Ready And Did Not Plan To Handle Flood Of Returning Iraq War Vets. “A NEWSWEEK investigation focused not on one facility but on the services of the Department of Veterans Affairs, a 235,000-person bureaucracy that provides medical care to a much larger number of servicemen and women from the time they're released from the military, and doles out their disability payments. Our reporting paints a grim portrait of an overloaded bureaucracy cluttered with red tape; veterans having to wait weeks or months for mental-health care and other appointments; families sliding into debt as VA case managers study disability claims over many months, and the seriously wounded requiring help from outside experts just to understand the VA's arcane system of rights and benefits… as the number of veterans continues to grow, critics worry the VA is in a state of denial. In a broad sense, the situation at the VA seems to mirror the overall lack of planning for the war. ‘We know the VA doesn't have the capacity to process a large number of disability claims at the same time,’ says Linda Bilmes, a Harvard public-finance professor. … She projects that at least 700,000 veterans from the global war on terror (GWOT) will flood the system in the coming years.” [Newsweek, 3/5/07]

Bush’s 2008 Budget Proposes 2 Percent Cut For Vets. “This failure to prepare to treat the wounded is of a piece with the conduct of the Iraq war itself, when civilian policymakers launched a war with inadequate troop strength and then failed to provide enough security forces to maintain the peace once fighting ended. In other words, a disastrous mistake from beginning to end - all at the expense of the brave men and women in the armed forces. To top off the charade of empathy, the latest budget estimate from the Bush administration proposes a 2 percent budget cut for the VA in the 2008-'09 budget year and freezing the budget at that level for the next three years. Coming at a time when VA medical services are breaking down under the strain of Iraq War casualties, reducing the agency's budget is a cynical mockery of the public facade of concern for returning veterans. ‘Support Our Troops,’ indeed. A more accurate slogan for this administration would be ‘Ignore Our Troops.’” [Bradenton Herald, Editorial, 3/1/07]

Veterans Administration Falling Behind In Providing Disability Benefits. “The Department of Veterans Affairs is falling behind in its efforts to provide prompt disability benefits for veterans nationwide, as its backlog of cases continues to grow, new reports show. In fact, the department's performance slipped in the past year even though its workload was lower than anticipated. … In testifying to Congress in February that the VA was ‘focused on delivering timely and accurate benefits,’ Secretary Nicholson and other VA officials said the department expected to receive 910,126 new claims and complete a decision on 838,566. Instead, the VA received far fewer claims - 806,382 - and it produced a decision on 774,378, or 8 percent fewer than expected, VA data show. As productivity dropped, the VA's closely watched backlog of claims went up, and has continued to rise since the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. It now tops 400,000.” [McClatchy, 12/1/06]

Walk-In Veterans’ Treatment Centers Can’t Keep Up With Caseload. “A network of community-based walk-in veterans' treatment centers is under increasing pressure as more and more former troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have come looking for help. A report to be issued Thursday from the House Veterans Affairs Committee's Democratic staff says that nearly a third of all Vet Centers have seen the demand rise for outreach and other services. … It found that the number of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have sought help for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) doubled - from nearly 4,500 to more than 9,000 - from October 2005 through June 2006. The number of veterans with other types of possible mental health and readjustment problems also doubled, and in some cases tripled, the report said. Half of the Vet Centers sampled reported that their expanding caseloads have affected their ability to treat their current clientele. ‘The administration's failure to increase staffing and other resources for Vet Centers has put their capacity to meet the needs of veterans and their families at risk,’ the report said.” [McClatchy, 10/18/06]