Washington  - As the U.S. House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill last Friday funding the Department of Veterans Affairs, Representative Thaddeus G. McCotter (R-Livonia) cast a vote against the controversial spending bill citing a $1.8 billion discrepancy for veterans medical care.

 

The House Fiscal Year 2004 Budget Resolution which Congress passed on April 11, 2003 includes $27.2 billion for veterans medical care funding.  The appropriations bill before the House Friday provides $25.4 billion for veterans health care—$1.8 billion less than the amount included in the budget resolution Rep. McCotter voted for earlier this year.

 

“The slightest change in funding levels can have a critical impact on the health and quality of life of our nation’s veterans—and this is not an area of compromise,” said McCotter.  “It is our duty to meet the needs of those who served in the past and those serving our country today.”

 

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA/HUD and Independent Agencies appropriations bill includes federal funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and eighteen related independent agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and National Science Foundation.