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Sgted
03-17-05, 03:46 PM
ENSIGN VETERANS’ AMENDMENT PASSES SENATE


March 16, 2005

Washington, D.C. – With the support of 96 Senators, an amendment offered by Senator John Ensign passed the Senate today and will be included in the Budget Resolution. The amendment provides an additional $410 million for health care for America’s veterans, delivers relief on veterans’ co-pays for prescription drugs and eliminates a proposed $250 enrollment fee for Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare programs.

“Our veterans made unbelievable sacrifices for this nation, and today my colleagues and I sent a strong message that we will not forget them,” said Ensign, a member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. “We must continue to work to ensure that we keep the promises that have been made to these brave men and women.”

Ensign’s amendment kills proposals to increase some veterans’ co-pays on prescription drugs from $7 to $15 and impose a $250 healthcare enrollment fee on veterans. It also rejects the proposal to scale back state nursing home per diem payments made by the VA. The amendment also calls for an additional $100 million in spending on mental health services for veterans and another $100 million for prosthetics.


“While I am incredibly mindful of our current budgetary constraints, we absolutely cannot afford to raise co-pays and fees on our veterans,” said Ensign. “Funds allocated for our veterans’ health care are funds that are invested in the future of our nation. If we don’t take care of our veterans today, we will be hard pressed to find men and women to make those sacrifices in the future.”

The $410 million for veterans’ health care included in Ensign’s amendment is offset by cuts to foreign aid

OLE SARG
03-17-05, 03:53 PM
It is about time we spent our money here at home rather than sending it overseas, in most cases FOR NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We (the Nation) needs to take better care of our veterans PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!

Let those foreign, leech-ass countries rough it without the U. S. dollars we throw at them to spend any way they see fit or unfit.

God Bless our Senators, especially Mr. Ensign.

SEMPER FI,
OLE SARG