Illinois Warrior Summit 2012

The US Department of Veterans Affairs, Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Edward Hines VA Hospital, James Lovell Federal Health Care Center and Illinois Supporting All Veterans Equally (ISAVE) will be hosting the Illinois Warrior Summit and 5th Annual Welcome Home Celebration for 4,000 military, veterans and families on Thursday, August 9th, 2012 from 10a-3p at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Forum – (725 W. Roosevelt Road in Chicago). Read more [...]

CVO and the VA Budget for 2013 by Bruce E. Parry, CVO Chair

The Obama Administration Budget proposed for 2013 for the VA is $140.3 billion. $76.3 billion is for mandatory benefits such as disability compensation and pensions. The remaining $64 billion is for discretionary spending, primarily for medical care.* The discretionary spending amount represents a 4.5% increase from the current year. This is more than $4 billion less than the major veterans organizations call for in The Independent Budget. Read more [...]

Full federal funding of VA health care – including mental health care for all veterans without further payment.

Mandatory VA Healthcare Funding: Currently, VA healthcare is funded through a process that requires Congressional debate every year. This means that the VA healthcare budget is a political football tossed back and forth year after year. Over the last five years, a movement has grown to make VA healthcare funding what is called an “entitlement.” In Congressional jargon, an entitlement is something that is automatically funded unless Congress takes action, the exact opposite of what happens now. Instead of being an annual political football, VA healthcare would be funded by a formula. Read more [...]

Ending veteran homelessness

Amend the Per Diem Grant to allocate funding to each state annually to care for their homeless Veterans: Currently each year grant proposals from all over the nation are submitted for approval. Only a small number of states are awarded funds. This process fails to meet the needs of more than half the nation’s homeless Veterans. Read more [...]