[Peace-discuss] Vermont's @SenSanders Is Right: Use War Money to Take Care of Veterans

[Robert Naiman]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/vermonts-sensanders-is-ri_b_4659046.html

Sometimes Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders does something that reminds us
that it does actually matter that he's an Independent in the best sense of
the word: thinking for himself, not accepting the D.C. "conventional
wisdom" that often defines the limits of reform.

Now, Bernie's done it again, proposing to use war funding to pay for
veterans' benefits, with the most politically salient feature of his
proposal being its reversal to the military pension cuts included in the
Ryan-Murray budget deal.

*The Hill* reports<http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-strategy/196134-sanders-wants-to-pay-for-military-pension-fix-with-war>
:

Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says he
wants to pay for restoring $6 billion in cuts to military pensions by
tapping funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Sanders told reporters Wednesday that he was eyeing overseas contingency
operations (OCO) to pay for most -- if not all -- of the $30 billion
veterans omnibus bill he introduced last week, which includes the repeal of
the military retirement benefits cut.

The Veterans Affairs chairman said he believed funds typically used by the
Pentagon and State Department for overseas wars should also extend to
veterans back at home.

"We use OCO for defense, and I think it's totally legitimate to use it for
those who defend us," Sanders said. "I think a significant amount, or all
of it, could come from OCO ... I believe having looked at this, there is
more than enough money in that fund to fund this legislation."

The *National Journal*
notes<http://www.govexec.com/defense/2014/01/senator-suggests-using-war-funds-pay-vets-benefits-bill/77381/>
that
18 military and veterans organizations have backed Sanders' proposal, and
Sanders says that he believes it will soon have the support of every major
veterans organization in the country.

Economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes have long
argued<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/AR2010090302200.html>
that
we fundamentally undercount the cost of war if we exclude the cost of
caring for veterans afterwards. The future cost of caring for veterans is a
fundamental cost of war, and honest budgeting would include it in
accounting for war cost.

In addition to providing direct benefit to veterans, Sanders' proposal, if
enacted, would help right a fundamental and dangerous wrong: pretending
that caring for veterans is not a cost of war. You can urge Congress and
the President to support Senator Sanders' proposal
here<http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/sanders-veterans-costofwar>
.
-- 
Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898, extension 1
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