I received this letter below from a member of the American Legion out of D.C-

The American Legion will be testifying before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee concerning the inadequate VA budget request for FY 2006. Your Senator needs to hear from your Department that the President's budget request in a disaster for veterans in your state.

medical care budget request is woefully inadequate by about $2.4 billion (it takes about $1.4 billion just to maintain current VA services and the Federal payraise);
increasing prescription copayments from $7 to $15 will place a financial strain on many veterans living on modest fixed incomes;
the enrollment fee is an insult to every honorably discharged veteran asked to pay for an earned benefit (many of these veterans are Medicare-eligible already paying the Federal government and others make copayments and their private insurance companies reimburse VA for treatment);
according to VA the goal of these two initiatives is to generate an additional $424 million and, hopefully, drive 1.1 million veterans out of the VA health care system; and
the long-term care initiatives will have a serious economic impact on the State veterans' homes (limit the number of veterans VA will pay per diem for and repeal the current mandated inpatient bed census).


Senators Larry Craig (ID), Arlen Specter (PA); Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX); Lindsey Graham (SC); Richard Burr (NC); John Ensign (NV); John Thune (SD); Johnny Isakson (GA); Daniel Akaka (HI); John Rockefeller (WV); Jim Jeffords (VT); Patty Murray (WA); Barack Obama (IL). and Ken Salazar (CO) must hear from The American Legion.

The next day, The American Legion will be testifying before the House Veterans' Affairs Committee concerning the President's budget request.

Representatives Steve Buyer (IN), Mike Biliarkis (AL), Terry Everett (AL), Cliff Stearns (FL), Jerry Moran (KS), Richard Baker (LA), Henry Brown (SC), Jeff Miller (FL), John Boozman (AR), Jeb Bradley (NH), Ginny Brown-Waite (FL), Devin Nunes (CA), Mike Turner (OH), Lane Evans (IL), Bob Filner (CA), Luis Gutierrez (IL), Corrine Brown (FL), Vic Snyder (AR), Mike Michaud (ME), Stephanie Herseth (SD), Ted Strickland (OH), Darlene Hooley (OR), Silvestre Reyes (TX), Shelley Berkley (NV), and Tom Udall (NM) also must hear from The American Legion.

Remember, three of our champions on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee are gone: former Chairman Chris Smith (NJ), Rob Simmons (CT), and Rick Renzi (AZ). Chairman Buyer believes we have too many veterans using the VA health care system that shouldn't be there and I believe he will be supportive of only treating service-connected disabled veterans and economically disadvantated veterans. He believes the rest -- Medicare-eligible, military retirees, veterans with private health care options, and veterans with no health insurance -- should go somewhere else. The President also wants to repeal a section of the Millennium Health Care Act (written by Representative Stearns) that mandated VA to maintain the same number of inpatient long-term care beds as VA had in 1998. The President doesn't wants to send more veterans to State veterans home or provide hospice and respite care.

IF THEY DON'T HEAR FROM US -- THEY THINK WE REALLY DON'T CARE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.


This was the end of the letter I received from a AMerican Legion member but I would like to add one personal note to everyone. Is everyone aware that the Millenium Act also states that only veterans with 70% or higher "service connected" disablity will be allowed admittance into any Federally funded V.A nursing home? My WWII veteran father, Joseph Consalvo, was refused admittance into a V.A nursing home only 20 minutes from his home because of the Millenium Act, even though there were many vacant beds available. My father was turned to the streets and wound up in a private nursing home costing him $4,500.00 per month out of pocket expenses.