Military Mistreatment/Progress Report

VETERANS
'Nothing But Lip Service'

As the nation prepares to reflect on Memorial Day, the White House is ramping up its effort to politicize national security, while hiding its record of mistreating veterans, and shortchanging troops on the battlefield. In a forum for the Bush Campaign yesterday, Secretary of Veterans Anthony Principi declared "our active military respond better to Republicans" because of "the tremendous support that President Bush [has] provided for our military and our veterans." His declaration came on the same day the White House announced plans for massive cuts to the veterans health care budget in 2006. This is not the first time top administration officials have made claims about veterans on the very same day they tried to slash veterans' funding. Last January, President Bush praised veterans in a visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. That same day, 164,000 veterans were told the White House was "immediately cutting off their access to the VA health care system." The next year, the White House offered another proposal to "jack up the amount military retirees and some veterans pay for prescription drugs."