Bush is still trying to cut Veteran's Funding while sending more off to war

I can NOT believe this... regardless of whether you think Iraq, or other US policies are correct, this is one thing that should never be up for debate. These kids are coming back with a leg missing, or a head wound and Bush is proposing to CUT their aid????
This is just morally wrong. How can a supposed "born-again Christian" suggest this?

Charlie
------
"During this time of war, it is absolutely the wrong time for our federal government to step back from any of its commitments to our veterans. To do so would be penny wise but pound foolish," said Gov. Ed Rendell in the weekly Democratic radio address.

"In today's parlance, the cost of health care for these vets may be half a billion dollars but their sacrifice for our nation, priceless," he said.

"While we the governors do all we can for our vets and our returning soldiers, our federal government still has the primary responsibility for meeting the needs of our veterans. And that's why I find the president's budget cuts for critical veteran services to be unconscionable."

He maintained that budget cuts include "a $350 million reduction in veterans home funding, which wipes out at least 5,000 veterans' nursing home beds."

"If the president's proposed budget cuts are enacted, nearly 60 percent of the 1,600 veterans will lose their daily stipend that allows them to stay in our state's nursing homes, literally forcing them out into the cold."

Vet co-payments for prescription drugs were tripled two years ago, Rendell said, and "now the president is proposing to again double those increased co-pays."

"In the midst of a war, when many new men and women will join the legion of veterans, does it really make sense for the president to increase the cost of vets' prescriptions by 100 percent?"

Rendell criticized a proposal calling for a $250 fee "to be paid by every vet wishing to participate in the Veterans Administration health care program. "

"There may well be some veterans who can afford to do so, but can all vets come up with an extra $250 a year to pay for health care? I doubt it."

He urged "every patriotic American" to contact their legislators and protest budget cuts for veteran services.

Also, Rendell praised the thousands of returning troops who "put their lives on the line" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Unlike any war in recent history, citizen-soldiers are fighting this war. Forty percent of all the troops are from National Guard units or reservists,"