Using just the sixth veto of his presidency, George W. Bush blocked passage of the Labor-HHS-Education funding bill this week. In addition to a myriad of social programs from health care to education, this bill provided funding for key veterans' health care programs.
According to VoteVets.org, a veterans advocacy group, the bill provided $3.4 billion for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
This key new program would provide mental health and suicide prevention services, much of it for troops and veterans. The funding is desperately needed because as the Journal of the American Medical Association reported earlier this year, the rate of mental injuries for those who served in Iraq is much greater than estimated, because of the late-developing nature of such trauma.
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Additionally, a US Army study found that the suicide rate among Army veterans and soldiers was at its highest rate in over 25 years.
The bill Bush vetoed would have added $10 million for treating Brain Injury Prevention for our veterans. Traumatic brain injuries have been found at a much higher rate than in past wars.
Another key program funded in the bill are veterans job training and placement programs. The bill would have provided $5.2 billion for this crucial program as well as homelessness prevention programs that benefit our veterans.
Nick Suhr, a New York area Iraq war veteran and member of VoteVets.org, said of the Bush veto and the successful effort by congressional Republicans to block the override, “It honestly makes those of us who served this nation feel worthless."
“We will do everything in our power to ensure that the constituents of those who voted with the President and against the troops and veterans know how hostile their member of Congress is to those who wore the uniform,” Suhr concluded.
