Westside : VA Official Warns of Service Cutbacks

Veterans Affairs Secretary Jesse Brown delivered a grim message Thursday to veterans at the VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles: Plans to cut the federal deficit might mean that veterans’ access to medical care would be limited.

Brown had traveled to Los Angeles from his Washington office to present grants--totaling more than $1 million--to three Westside organizations that provide services to homeless veterans. However, Brown vowed again to continue lobbying for more VA funding.

“How we treat our veterans is a measure of who we are as people and who we are as a nation,” he said. “Our veterans are not welfare recipients--they’re heroes.”

Although Congress proposes to increase money for the medical care provided at VA hospitals, funding for other VA services would be cut and could eventually curtail veterans’ medical care, Brown said. He estimates that if the budget plan is approved, he would be forced to close 41 hospitals nationwide, deny care to nearly 1 million veterans and eliminate 3,200 health care employees by 2002.

The outlook is far brighter for the three organizations--New Directions, L.A. Vets, and Shelter for the Homeless--that received grant money from Veterans Affairs. The organizations plan to use the money to build housing and expand programs for homeless veterans in the West Los Angeles area.