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ARMED FORCES NEWS |
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Veterans Medical Funding in Limbo Last week President Bush said he would not declare the $5.1 billion that Congress included in the fiscal '02 emergency spending bill as a national emergency. He said the bill is more than he asked for and about half of it has nothing to do with a national emergency. Congress had designated the funds as "contingent emergency spending," requiring release or rejection in their entirety. Unless the President changes his mind before September 1, the $275million allocated in the bill for VA medical care is one of the programs in limbo. More than 300,000 veterans new to the VA system are on waiting lists -- some more than one year -- for the initial medical exams they need in order to qualify for prescription drug benefits, said Richard Santos, national commander of the American Legion. "If that's not an emergency, then nothing is," Santos said. |
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