IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Release	January 18, 2008	No. 08-001   Contact: Mokie Porter 301-585-4000, Ext. 146
Historic Increase in VA Healthcare Funding Is a Start, But the System Still Needs Fixing
(Washington, D.C.) – “Vietnam Veterans of America applauds Congress for making good on its promise by adding $3.7 billion in needed funds to the veterans healthcare budget,” said John Rowan, national president of VVA. “We applaud the President for authorizing the expenditure of these funds, albeit on an 'emergency’ basis. “We are not pleased that for three and a half months into the federal fiscal year the VA budget has been in limbo. Nor are we pleased that this added funding, as an 'emergency' appropriation, is not to be part of the base budget. This could have negative consequences for FY 2010,” Rowan said. “Although both sides of the aisle in Congress have been cool towards instituting a system of assured, guaranteed funding for veterans healthcare, VVA believes the current method of funding is broken, and a new means of funding, one that would assure a timely and reliable funding stream, must be debated and enacted,” Rowan added. “We will continue to work with our fellow veterans’ service organizations in the Partnership for Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and with key members of Congress to craft a solution to this long-troublesome issue,” Rowan commented.
Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) is the nation's only congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated to the needs of Vietnam-era veterans and their families.  VVA's founding principle is “Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another.”