CHAIRMAN BOB STUMP STATEMENT FULL COMMITTEE MEETING – FY 1999 BUDGET MARCH 18, 1998 The meeting will come to order. We are meeting to approve the VA Committee’s Views and Estimates on the Administration’s Fiscal Year 1999 budget for the VA. We are in agreement on the basic VA budget numbers that the Committee usually considers in making annual recommendations to the Budget Committee. I want to express my appreciation for the efforts made by the minority members and Ranking Member Lane Evans in reaching agreement on almost all of the recommendations for VA spending levels. A chart and a copy of the committee’s views and estimates have been provided to your staff previously and are also included in your folders. Overall, the Committee is recommending $19.9 billion in discretionary spending for the VA in fiscal year 99; this is an increase of $521 million over the Administration’s request. We are recommending increases for the following major items:
The only area of real disagreement seems to be over the Administration’s proposal to restrict VA’s compensation liability to veterans with smoking-related conditions. I agree with former Secretary Jesse Brown and subsequent VA leaders that the VA should not be under a legal obligation to pay this compensation for the following reasons: First, it will undermine the credibility of VA’s compensation program. The public fully supports compensation for things such as Agent Orange, PTSD, and radiation exposure because they don’t question that these conditions are directly related to military service. However, I believe the public will seriously doubt the justification for paying compensation for smoking-related conditions. Second, VA estimates that the already beleaguered claims processing bureaucracy will be overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of claims that would be filed by veterans and their survivors. This will virtually wipe-out the recent progress heralded by the VA as an indication that things were improving at the Veterans Benefits Administration. Copies of communications from former Secretary Brown, Deputy Secretary Gober, and Acting Secretary West stating these concerns are in your folder. Additionally, we are recommending that the VA’s tobacco-related costs, whether for health care or compensation, should be pursued through the proposed federal tobacco settlement legislation. As one of the World War II vets who took advantage of the cigarettes provided aboard ship, I disagree with those who argue the government is now responsible for their own decision to smoke. Title 38 prohibits paying compensation for alcohol-related conditions or health care problems related to drug abuse. VA should continue providing health care for smoking-related conditions, but we should include tobacco use with the title 38 prohibitions on paying compensation for alcohol and other substance use. It’s important to note that other interests within the Congress may have an eye toward spending this money on such things as transportation or the supplemental appropriations bill. It will be difficult to protect this money for veterans if our only justification is sending compensation checks to individuals who smoked for 50 years after leaving the service. We have a much better chance of prevailing on behalf of veterans if we spend this money on a more justifiable set of benefit improvements. Very soon, I intend to introduce the Veterans Benefits Restoration and Improvements Act of 1998. This bill will restore some cuts in benefits made over the last decade for deficit reduction purposes, and make badly needed improvements in programs we could not afford to make when the federal government was running high budget deficits. Now that we are enjoying budget surpluses, veterans deserve to be the first Americans to have their programs restored and improved. I will propose using these funds on items such as:
The Veterans Benefits Restoration and Improvements Act of 1998 will also support getting veterans a seat at the table during the debate on the Federal tobacco settlement. The VA’s smoking-related health care costs and payments to veterans should receive a high priority in any legislation implementing a settlement between the Federal government and the tobacco industry. I know the official position of the veterans’ organizations and the Independent Budget does not support the Administration’s legislative proposal on tobacco use. Individual members will also have different opinions regarding the best way to spend these funds. I honestly believe that going forward on the basis of the proposal I’ve described this afternoon is in the best interest of veterans, the VA, and American citizens who strongly support paying whatever the cost for benefits that are truly related to military service. |