It often feels like American veterans don’t get the respect that they deserve in this country.

They put their lives on the line to protect the freedoms that we all enjoy every day. Once they return home, however, veterans oftentimes find that their sacrifices are not appreciated. Many of them end up feeling abandoned by the very American government that they were prepared to die to protect.

That’s why it’s so refreshing to see the House of Representatives pass a new roughly $3 billion veterans supplemental funding bill. This could not come at a better time, as Congress is heading toward an October 1 partial government shutdown deadline.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) warned Congress two months ago that it was around $3 billion short of the funding it needed for the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30. It was also about $12 billion short of the projected funding that it needs for the next fiscal year.

The VA has said that if Congress doesn’t pass additional funds by this Friday, 7 million veterans may not have any benefits come October 1. That’s why Rep. Mike Garcia (R-CA) has spearheaded this bill, which has quickly garnered bipartisan support in a deeply divided Congress.

From Fox News:
“I would never just write a blank check to a federal agency that’s underperforming and, you know, effectively overrunning their accounts,” Garcia explained. “It is something that affects not just the 7 million veterans, but also the families and everyone around depending on those checks.”

And those 7 million veterans, he said, “would lose their pension benefits, they would lose their GI bill benefits, the college tuition assistance.”

Garcia’s bill also includes a mandate for the VA to issue a report on the shortfall to Congress, and future accountability reporting guardrails to ensure continuing funds are managed properly. It would also force the VA secretary to report to lawmakers on any future budget estimate changes.

VA Is Finally Being Held Accountable

Garcia believes that the failures of the budget are due to “mismanagement and bad budgeting from the VA and probably, you know, not managing other accounts correctly that have affected these VA benefits.”

It comes as a relief that the bill includes that mandate for the VA in the hopes of holding them accountable in the future. Indeed, millions of veterans have been let down by the VA for decades. American military veterans, quite frankly, deserve a far better VA than the one that is currently in place.

Lawmakers currently have less than ten days to solve the enormous government funding issue before the partial shutdown deadline. Government funding was one of the main issues faced by the 118th Congress.

Garcia knows that for 7 million veterans, time is of the essence when it comes to this bill. That’s why he’s hoping that despite all the chaos that is currently happening in Congress, it can pass in the Senate quickly.

“Because this turns into a pumpkin on Sept. 20, we don’t really have time to tie this to a CR package,” he said.

With all the political division that is currently happening in America, it’s nice to see lawmakers from both sides of the aisle come together to help veterans. Here’s hoping this bill continues to be a success!

Key Takeaways: 

• House passes $3B VA funding bill.
• This comes as a partial government shutdown is looming.
• 7 million veterans could lose their benefits if this doesn’t pass into law.

Source: Fox News