VA asked for funds for NMI veterans

With the announcement by the Department of Veterans Affairs that it will seek a record $80.6 billion in the fiscal year 2007 budget, Resident Representative Pete A. Tenorio has called on the VA to “obligate some of these funds to assist the veterans in the CNMI to the greatest extent possible.”

In a letter to Secretary R. James Nicholson, Tenorio commended the VA for submitting this landmark proposal.

“It seems only fitting that the largest increase in health care spending should go to those who have served our country with dedication, commitment and sacrifice, and whose needs have so far been underfunded,” said Tenorio in his letter.

The Fiscal Year 2007 proposal represents an increase of $8.8 billion above the budget for 2006, with the overwhelming majority of these resources targeted for health care and disability compensation. With these new monies, the VA will be able to provide care for 5.3 million patients.

In his letter to Nicholson, Tenorio wrote, “In light of this substantial increase in funding for VA program, I am wondering what kind of an impact this will have on improving access to benefits for veterans in outlying areas, specifically those residing in the CNMI.”

The budget proposal calls for $38.5 billion in discretionary funding slated mostly for health care. It is the largest discretionary funding level the VA has ever requested. It also would provide for $42.1 billion in mandatory funding that would cover mostly compensation, pension and other benefit programs.

Highlights of this proposal include: increased health care funding for veterans by 69 percent since FY 2001, VA working closely with the Department of Defense to ensure that service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and their families receive timely, high-quality services and benefits, increased mental health services, funding for non-institutional long-term care and funds for prosthetics and sensory aids.

“Veterans are a priority,” Tenorio told Nicholson. “In the CNMI, we feel as strongly about that statement as your department does. Working with you, I hope to do all I can to help our veterans achieve as adequate a level of care as those afforded other veterans in this great country of ours.”

Tenorio said he intends to continue his efforts to assist veterans. He is in the process of setting up meetings with the Congressional delegates to see if, working as a group, the U.S. insular areas can bring about a greater awareness of the needs of veterans living outside the continental U.S.