American Legion presses for urgent VA construction funds

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The U.S. Senate's unanimous approval this week of a bipartisan bill to fund more than $2 billion in overdue VA construction projects is a "significant step forward in a game of fiscal catch-up by Congress," American Legion National Commander Paul A. Morin said today. "Members of the House and Senate must now work urgently for the good of America's veterans, and for those now serving in harm's way, and build a VA health-care system for the 21st century, rather than get by in a system built 50 years ago."

Through the Capital Asset Realignment for Enhanced Services (CARES) process completed in 2004, VA identified what it called "urgent" construction needs for outdated VA hospitals and clinics across the nation. Years of work and numerous hearings went into the process, which laid out what former VA Secretary Anthony Principi called a "well-reasoned roadmap" for the future of veterans' health care in America. "The VA secretary then said Congress would have to commit $1 billion a year for a half-dozen years for CARES to succeed. The American Legion has included the $1 billion a year figure in every budget recommendation since CARES. But Congress has not come through. The VA major construction budget for 2007 was about one-third of that."

New VA medical centers in Las Vegas, Nev., Denver, Colo., and Orlando, Fla., along with 156 new community-based outpatient clinics were among the top priorities of CARES. Since then, Hurricane Katrina destroyed VA facilities in New Orleans, La., and in Gulfport, Miss., adding to the need.

The Senate and House must now work out compromise legislation and get the money appropriated, Morin said. "Urgent, to me, means now -- before the end of the 109th Congress," Morin said. "This is too important to have to start over next year. Veterans can't keep waiting and waiting and waiting."

The American Legion, with 2.7 million members, is the nation's largest veterans service organization.