In my “In Farewell Address, Bush Touts Homeland Security and Rightly Praises Our Military, But…”, I gave a long list of examples of disturbing statistics and phenomena affecting our troops and veterans that developed during eight years of an administration that had as one of its clamorous slogans, “Support the Troops.”
My list included the rising rates and numbers of cases of PTSD, alcoholism, drug abuse, crime, homelessness, divorce and suicide among our veterans; lack of appropriate medical and mental health care (remember Walter Reed); the administration’s resistance to the “Improved GI Bill”; the Pentagon’s repeated and shameful denial of just disability ratings and of painfully earned disability benefits for “cost-cutting” purposes, etc.
I ended my post on the hopeful note that the Obama administration and the excellent selection of retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to head the Veterans Affairs Department, will hopefully bring about much-needed change.
Well, today (a full three days before the inauguration) I received the following announcement from one of my military associations:
There’s something for almost every American in the $825 billion economic stimulus package the House of Representatives is drafting for action next week, including:
A $500 payroll tax credit for individuals ($1,000 for married couples) would appear in paychecks through reduced tax withholding. That’s an annual amount, so the effect on each paycheck would be relatively small. The expectation is that people would be more likely to spend, rather than save, that amount if it’s spread out rather than paid in a lump sum.
A $2,500 tax credit toward the first four years of higher education expenses.
A $500 increase in the maximum Pell education grant (to $5,350) and a $2,000 increase in the limit on unsubsidized Stafford education loans.
$3.75 billion toward new military hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers plus another $455 million for renovations in existing facilities.
$360 million to build more military child development centers.
$1.2 billion for new military housing projects and $154 million to upgrade current housing.
$950 million to improve VA medical facilities.
$50 million for repairs to veterans’ cemeteries.
Most legislators expect some additional growth in the package as it moves through the legislative process. One option under discussion is a one-year “patch” to keep the alternative minimum tax (AMT) from affecting more upper-middle-income taxpayers
Yes, “Change” is in the Washington air…
