Klein outlines health, benefits plan for veterans
Published May 4th, 2008
By John Johnston
Managing Editor
“Whether you support the war in Iraq or not, we can all agree we must support our returning servicemen and women with access to the full range of benefits they have earned,” Congressman Ron Klein (D-Boca Raton) told the Boca Raton News.
These American heroes laid their lives on the line for our country, and it is time for ‘support our troops’ to be more than just a slogan. To really support our troops and their families, we have to ensure that when they come home, they have access to quality mental and physical health care and the educational benefits they deserve. It is, quite simply, the right thing to do.”
Klein recently unveiled a five-point blueprint to expand health care and other benefits for military veterans in remarks to some veterans and volunteers at Veteran’s Park in Delray Beach.
Calling it the Five-Star Veterans' Priority Plan, the initiative:
- Would mandate funding for veterans' health care.
- Would strengthen benefits for National Guard and Reserves
- Would revive and update the G.I. Bill.
- Would eliminate the backlog of disability claims.
- Would guarantee health benefits for returning service members.
“These American heroes laid their lives on the line for our country, and it is time for ‘support our troops’ to be more than just a slogan. To really support our troops and their families, we have to ensure that when they come home, they have access to quality mental and physical health care and the educational benefits they deserve.”
“It is, quite simply, the right thing to do,” Klein said.
Klein is one of about 300 senators and representatives co-sponsoring bills in the Senate and House that would update the 64-year-old G.I. Bill by expanding educational benefits to veterans that have served since Sept. 11, 2001. The companion bills are both at the committee level.
Klein acknowledged that some of the ideas would be costly, but argued they have broad support, even in a tight budgetary time. Klein would not estimate the cost of any of his proposals, saying they would vary based on the numbers of veterans served.
"This is what I would call priority budgeting," he said. "If we're going to ask people to fight wars for us ... we need to make sure that we have the necessary support in place so that when people do sign up, they're going to know that we have the equipment when we send them over to Iraq and Afghanistan, and we've got the services in place when they come home, so they and their families will be supported."
Almost 90 percent of federal healthcare spending is direct rather than discretionary, Klein said. Guaranteed funding for VA healthcare would free members of Congress from the annual budgetary battles they face and allow them to concentrate on oversight of VA programs and services.
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