[HCCN] fw: VA entitlements strain coffers

[Judith Robbins]

 From the BDN this week

GUEST COLUMN
VA entitlements strain coffers
8/16/10 06:20 pm  Updated: 8/16/10 09:58 pm
Robert C. Hauhart



OP ART BY M. RYDER


In the July 28 opinion column “About entitlements, no more ‘me  
first’,” Neel Kashkari argues that the fiscal crisis in Europe has  
awakened Americans to the challenge presented by federal  
“entitlements.” Although Kashkari provides no data to suggest  
Americans have become more concerned about entitlements, he  
apparently is and wishes more Americans were.

More accurately, Kashkari might have said the U.S. intervention in  
the Middle East has awakened a desire for the Iraq and Afghanistan  
conflicts to be over. This view is supported by polls regarding  
military spending: The public has voiced its approval repeatedly for  
reduced military expenditures as a direct approach to reining in the  
U.S. budget. Kashkari’s focus on entitlements ignores the other  
silent elephant in the room — the military budget.

American disillusion with the war has been noted by several recent  
polls. A July 13 CBS News poll found that 62 percent of Americans  
think the war in Afghanistan is going badly and 54 percent favor a  
strict withdrawal timeline.

According to an ABC–Washington Post poll reported three days later,  
support for the Afghanistan war has declined from 52 percent of  
respondents in December 2009 to 43 percent currently. In the same  
poll, 71 percent of Americans favored removing all combat troops  
still in Iraq by August.

One of the primary sources of disenchantment with the wars is the  
cost — although the more than 5,600 American lives lost is a strong  
motivator as well. The National Priorities Project, for example, has  
calculated the cost of both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as $1.05  
trillion through December 2009.

USA Today reported that in February, the cost of the Afghanistan war  
surpassed that of Iraq for the first time — at a monthly cost of  
$12.2 billion for both. The current government estimate for the year  
ending Sept. 30 is $105 billion for Afghanistan and $66 billion for  
Iraq.

The actual expenditures will likely be higher — up to the $200  
billion range. These “operating costs” are supplemental over and  
above the $660 billion annual Defense Department appropriation. It’s  
not surprising then that many Americans favor cutting the military  
budget as one of their top two government cost-saving priorities. The  
other, according to a recent Harris-Financial Times poll, is foreign  
aid.

Kashkari is indeed correct that government projections show that  
legally mandated federal expenditures are expected to increase  
dramatically as our population ages and otherwise suffer illness and  
injury. Given the current $13 trillion deficit, every responsible  
economist is concerned about the gap between revenue and  
expenditures. In his focus on entitlements, Kashkari is no doubt  
concerned about the substantial (and dramatically increasing) costs  
for benefits for current and former members of our armed services.

As Kashkari knows, the Department of Veterans Affairs has its own  
separate budget. In fact, Congress has been holding hearings  
regarding the 2011 VA appropriations request. (The July 28 hearings  
were titled: Continuing Oversight of Inadequate Cost Controls in the  
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.)

The VA’s budget consists of two major items — compensation- 
pensions for retired military (about $60 billion) and medical care  
for veterans ($57 billion). Former service members are entitled to  
receive these benefits under current law for their service. (That’s  
where the word “entitlements” comes from.)

More than 30,000 U.S. troops have suffered injuries in Iraq and  
Afghanistan. Many of them will require some degree of lifetime care.  
Since so many injuries arise from this war, and they directly affect  
the VA’s legally mandated entitlements, one way to reduce these  
expenditures is to limit injuries to American service members.

In any event, when debating the national budget, it’s essential to  
get all the elephants into the room.

Robert C. Hauhart is an associate professor of criminal justice and  
legal studies at Saint Martin’s University in Lacey, Wash. He lives  
in Steuben in the summer and teaches distance education classes for  
the University of Maine at Machias.
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