U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

August 4, 2005

CONTACT:    Cody Wertz – Press Secretary

                        202-228-3630

Jen Clanahan – Deputy Press Secretary

                        303-455-7600

 

SEN. SALAZAR CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF V.A. ISSUES THAT LED TO SURPRISE $1B SHORTFALL IN VETS HEALTH CARE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Ken Salazar last week continued his push for Washington to keep its promise to America’s veterans by calling for a federal investigation of a surprise $1 billion shortfall in health care funding for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

“Our men and women in uniform put their lives on the line every day as part of a compact with the government that we will provide for them when they return home. That promise needs to be assured. I want answers as to how this shortfall failed to be anticipated,” Sen. Salazar said.

In a letter sent on July 27 to David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States by Sen. Salazar and Sens. Richard Durbin (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), and Daniel Akaka (D-HI), the Ranking Member on the Committee on Veterans Affairs, they requested that the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) conduct an investigation into the VA’s process for estimating patient load.

The letter requested the GAO examine several aspects of the VA’s budget process and the surprise shortfall, as well as recommend fixes, including:

  • The decision-making process that led to the FY05 shortfall;
  • The strengths and weaknesses of VA’s process for monitoring health care demand, including its models for long-term care, mental health care and prosthetics;
  • The strengths and weaknesses of the VA’s two-year budget process; and
  • The strengths and weaknesses of VA’s process of communicating budget issues to Congress.

“America’s taxpayers and veterans both deserve hard answers about how the Administration wound up in such a mess to begin with. Hopefully, this investigation will tell us where the problem started so we can move swiftly to correct it,” said Sen. Salazar.

In late June 2005, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs acknowledged a surprise $1 billion health care funding shortfall for FY05 and admitted it had borrowed from construction funds as well as next year’s budget to fill the gap. Thanks in part to the efforts of Sen. Salazar and his fellow members of the Veterans Affairs Committee, included in the Interior Appropriations bill passed by the Senate on July 29 was an extra $1.5 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs for veterans’ medical services.

There are 26.5 million veterans in the United States, including 433,000 in Colorado and 100,000 across the Nation that have returned home from service in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) or Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

A PDF-format copy of Sen. Salazar’s letter to Comptroller Walker can be read by clicking here.


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