Media contact: Jeff Schrade (202)224-9093

(Washington, DC) U.S. Senator Larry Craig said today that VA's 2008 budget is another strong proposal by President Bush to care for our nation's veterans. The President's new funding recommendation requests $86.7 billion dollars for fiscal year 2008  an estimated 8 percent increase over this year's anticipated budget.

"While I'm anxious to delve deeper into the details behind the request, it's clear that this President and this Congress continue to make veterans a top priority. If we approve this budget, spending on veterans' programs will have increased approximately 77 percent since President Bush took office. Those are stunning spending increases by any measure," said Craig, the top Republican on the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

"This budget sends a clear message to the troops that we support them and we will be here to take care of them when they return."

Among the military services, the President has proposed increasing spending an average of 11.3 percent ? Army would get 20 percent increase over this year, to $130.1 billion; Air Force would get an 8 percent increase, to $136.6 billion; Navy's budget would rise by 9 percent, to $119.3 billion; and the Marine Corps would rise 4.3 percent, to $20.5 billion.

In making the budget announcement, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson also announced that he plans to create a special Advisory Committee composed of veterans from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The panel will also include spouses and family members who will report directly to the Secretary on issues impacting young veterans and their families.

"The Secretary already spends countless hours with veterans of Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. I'm pleased to see that he has decided to formalize a role in VA's hierarchy for these American heroes," Craig said.

In addition to providing renewed focus on young veterans, VA experts project the agency will be able to cut the claims processing time by 18 percent. Furthermore, Secretary Nicholson announced a change in policy advocated by Senator Craig to give priority treatment to all disability claims filed by veterans who are returning home from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"Returning combat veterans are the nation's number one priority. Delays and backlogs should not enter into our vocabulary when discussing their claims for disability compensation," Craig said.  

The FY '08 budget proposal calls for $42 billion in discretionary funding -- mostly for health care -- which is the largest amount ever requested by a President for VA. It also would provide $45 billion in mandatory funding, mostly for compensation, pension, educational assistance, home loan guaranties and other benefit programs.

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