June 29, 2007 - Since the president announced an end to major combat operations on May 1, 2003, deaths of military personnel in Iraq have risen from 138 to nearly 3,600 today. Also, more than 95 percent of the American personnel wounded in Iraq (35,000 to 53,000, depending on how they are counted, according to a recent Associated Press series) have been sustained since the end of major combat operations. Under these circumstances, now would not be an ideal time to reiterate a White House threat to veto the military construction/veterans affairs appropriation if it exceeds the level the president proposed in his 2008 budget. So, the White House has wisely retreated from a veto threat that would have been a political disaster for the president, the vice president and their party. Political ramifications aside, it also would have been a slap in the face to returning wounded warriors.

Acting in a bipartisan manner, Congress is right to increase the president's inadequate funding proposals to serve the needs of injured veterans. On June 6, the House Appropriations Committee voted 56-0 for a bill that would allocate $37.1 billion to the Veterans Health Administration. That was $2.5 billion more than the president requested. As news outlets continue to report on the scandals afflicting the Walter Reed Army medical facilities, Congress is right to attempt to address similar concerns within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). To that end, the bill added $500 million to the president's $3.6 billion request for the VA's medical facilities account, which funds maintenance. Another $69 million was added for medical and prosthetic research. On June 15, the House approved the measure by a veto-proof 409-2 margin. Meanwhile, on June 14, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 28-1 to approve its veterans and military construction spending measure. The Senate bill added $3.6 billion to the president's discretionary spending proposal for the VA.

It is a national disgrace that servicemen and veterans have been facing such huge roadblocks and so many hurtles delaying the recognition and treatment of their disabilities. CQ Weekly recently reported that the VA system has a backlog of more than 400,000 disability claims even as the number of injured soldiers and Marines is poised to increase significantly. The overwhelmed VA system now takes an average of 177 days to process a claim, twice as long as the private health-insurance system.

It is already unconscionable that the military's equipment situation has been permitted to deteriorate to unacceptable levels during wartime. Continuing to deny adequate and timely medical care, both physical and mental, to wounded warriors literally adds insult (and contempt) to injury.