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Pentagon Budget Cut Initiative to Fund VA Healthcare

The Pentagon is already looking at having about $450 billion cut from its budget, and now the White House has ordered it to cut another $25 billion over the next 10 years in order to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare. According to an article in Bloomberg News, the additional cuts were ordered so as to protect medical funding for the VA to treat both veterans with disabilities and veterans needing standard healthcare.

The Budget Control Act was signed, and became law on August 2, 2011. It imposed a financial cap for the fiscal years 2012 and 2013 that covers the VA, Homeland Security, The State Department, and the Department of Defense. This means an action taken to protect the VA medical funding cuts funding to one or all of the other accounts.

President Obama requested over $52 billion for VA healthcare for veterans for the next fiscal year. By 2016, it's expected the VA's discretionary spending budget will rise to $60 billion.

If other cuts aren't made, and if Congress cannot find more savings, the Pentagon may lose up to another $500 billion over the next 10 years. This is an imposing figure as the monthly cost for the current wars is $11.6 billion, according to figures from July 30, 2011. On April 30, 2011, that number was $9.7 billion.

If you are a disabled veteran who has been denied disability compensation or have not yet applied for benefits from the VA, a South Florida disability attorney from LaVan&Neidenberg is ready to help. To learn if you are entitled to certain programs and benefits contact our veterans disability rights firm today - 1-888-234-5758.