VFW Joins House Democrats for Veterans Roundtable

*UPDATE: The Office of Management and Budget announced this afternoon that all VA accounts and military personnel accounts would be exempt from budget sequestration. 

Yesterday the VFW joined House Democratic leadership and some of the nation’s other leading veterans’ advocates for a roundtable discussion on veterans’ issues. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has routinely hosted quarterly roundtables with the veterans’ community for the last few years, offering veterans’ advocates an opportunity to candidly discuss ways in which Congress could work to better serve our veterans.

 VFW Deputy Director Ryan Gallucci joined in the discussion, expressing the VFW’s frustration over looming sequestration cuts to the defense budget and administrative accounts for Veterans Affairs. Gallucci pointed out that while the Obama Administration had clarified that VA health care accounts were exempt from sequestration, experts had indicated that VA’s administrative accounts could be subject to cuts.

The veterans’ community has asked for clarification from Congress and the Administration as to what kinds of administrative accounts could be affected, pointing out that the timely delivery of other VA benefits, like disability compensation or the G.I. Bill, could be affected if the administrators of those benefits are forced to scale back their operations.

House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., tackled the issue by explaining that the Administration was scheduled to deliver their analysis of how sequestration would affect each agency, but that he and his fellow committee members were still searching for ways to avoid the looming 2013 deadline when across-the-board cuts would have to take place.

Other issues raised during the roundtable were the absence of advance appropriations in the VA budget continuing resolution currently before Congress, daunting unemployment numbers among Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans, and the persistent lack of mental health resources for veterans suffering from the invisible wounds of war.

Your VFW advocates have been working hard all week, asking the 112th Congress to “Finish Strong For Veterans.” In addition to the Democratic roundtable, VFW participated in a Republican veterans affairs roundtable on Tuesday, and members of the VFW National Legislative Committee hit the halls of Congress all week, pushing for solutions to issue related to the VA budget, employment and education, health care, and benefits delivery.

As Congress wraps up business leading into the election, check back regularly for updates.