VA EXEMPT FROM SEQUESTRATION
'Disabled veterans can breathe a sigh of relief...'
April 23, 2012
WASHINGTON
(April 23, 2012) —
A letter sent today from the Office of Management and Budget to the General
Accountability Office officially exempts the Department of Veterans Affairs
from
mandatory budget cuts
should sequestration occur.
The letter, signed by OMB Deputy General Counsel Steven
D. Aitken to Julia C. Matta, GAO assistant general counsel for Appropriations
and Budget, clearly states that “all programs administered by the VA, including
Veterans’ Medical Care, are exempt from sequestration.”
“Disabled
veterans can breathe a sigh of relief today knowing that VA programs are exempt
from sequestration,” said Richard L. DeNoyer,
national commander of the 2 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S.
and its Auxiliaries.
“Today’s decision means the healthcare plans and programs
the VA currently provides to millions of disabled veterans will continue
unabated, as will claims processing and veterans’ burial benefits,” he said.
“Protecting the VA is exactly what President Obama told me he would do during a
meeting in the Oval Office in March, and now he has come through for America’s
veterans and survivors. It’s a great day to be a veterans’ advocate.”
Read the OMB letter at http://www.vfw.org/uploadedFiles/VFW.org/VFW_in_DC/4-23-12.%20sequestration%20letter.pdf.
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