The organizations − which include the Air Force Sergeants Association, VoteVets and Easterseals − asked lawmakers to explicitly exempt Veterans Affairs from future cuts. "Veterans are not political pawns to advance a political agenda."īut 24 veterans' groups signed a letter to Congress expressing “grave concerns” about potential veterans' benefit cuts before the House voted 217-215 last Wednesday to approve the debt ceiling bill. "Simply put, they are playing politics with our veterans," Bost said during last week's debate on the bill. Mike Bost, R-Ill., who chairs the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, called Democrats' warnings of veterans cuts "dangerous rhetoric." “In case there’s any confusion, I made a little chart that could help them out.” “I hear House Republicans out on TV saying they would never vote to cut veterans’ benefits,” President Joe Biden said in a tweet Tuesday with an attached flow chart. The department's projection came from applying the cuts “across the board” to federal agencies. The Department of Veterans Affairs is an agency of the federal government that provides benefits and health care services to approximately 9 million veterans. Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, issued an analysis of the bill saying that because Republicans are unwilling to cut defense spending “everything else in annual appropriations” would be subjected to cuts including cancer research, education and veterans' health care. The Republicans' bill includes $4.5 trillion in cuts to government programs – a 22% reduction overall in domestic spending, according to the White House – as part of raising the debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion to avert a government default. "We should prioritize meeting our veterans’ needs instead of trying to leverage their benefits for unrelated spending." "Democrats have been playing games with veterans for years in order to make room for their pet projects elsewhere in the budget," Gilmartin said. Chad Gilmartin, McCarthy's deputy spokesman, said House Republicans "will not cut veterans benefits" and will "responsibly prioritize" spending in the upcoming appropriations process. McCarthy's office rejected the White House's claims. The legislation, pushed by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, does not target veterans’ services by name but would keep government spending in fiscal year 2024 at the same level as 2022. "And prioritizing tax welfare for wealthy special interests over honoring our commitments to those who have put their lives on the line for our country is as backwards as politics gets.” “These draconian cuts to America’s veterans have no precedent in America’s history,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said. The bill, which the Republican-controlled House approved last week, would eliminate 81,000 Veterans Affairs jobs, produce 30 million fewer Veterans Affairs outpatient visits and increase the disability backlog of veterans by 134,000, the White House said in a memo. WASHINGTON – The White House slammed Republican-backed legislation to raise the debt ceiling for not explicitly protecting veterans' health benefits from massive spending cuts, warning Tuesday of proposed historic slashes to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Watch Video: Debt ceiling negotiations could have far-reaching impacts beyond its resolution
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