Time to Link America's Defense and Responsibility

The following is my comment in response to Hal Donahue's Huffington Post piece :

Honor, Tradition, Courage: Broken Tiles, Broken Healthcare System

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hal-donahue/honor-tradition-courage_b_49565.html

It is long past the time for the funding of the VA to be included as a part of the overall Defense Spending Bill. Having separate VA appropriations bills from the Defense Spending Bills allows for stalling and delays in getting the funds where they are needed to aid our ailing troops.

An allocation of 25% of the total amount of every Defense Spending Bill should be earmarked for the VA as a mandate.

We have millions of Vets, some back to WWII, who rely on the VA for health care, and for their service and sacrifices for the United States it has to be the best money can buy, not merely some half-assed pill dispensary with a revolving door.

In addition to the Veterans who need quality health care, we need funding for intervention, counciling and housing for the estimated 80,000 homeless Vets across America, whose reward for service to their country is a stained piece of cardboard under a freeway overpass ... These individuals gave their all for America and they deserve better than to shiver in darkness alone.

There also needs to be a revitalization of the GI Bill which gives returning troops every opportunity to get education, employment and housing as befits a returning hero ... not a smile, trinkets and a cold shoulder.

This VA funding MUST be factored into every Defense Spending Bill that Congress sends to the President, not only because it is the right thing to do for those who put so much on the line for us, but to remind the Congress and the President, every funding cycle, of the human cost of War and to reinforce that funding Defense is more than just funding for well lobbied, substandard, weapons platforms.