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ARMED FORCES NEWS |
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Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi told a House committee last week that he had sought $1.2 billion more for the VA than the White House Office of Management and Budget put in his budget for fiscal 2005. Principi's disclosure came in response to a comment by ranking member Rep. Lane Evens, D-Ill, during a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on the VA budget. Critics of the VA's allocation include Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, who labeled it the difference between rhetoric and reality. The budget would more than double co-payments -- from $7 to $15 -- for veterans in Priority Categories 7 and 8, who are not receiving compensation for service-connected disabilities and who have income above a threshold. In addition, it would impose an annual user fee of $250 for those veterans. |
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