{"id":1038415,"date":"2024-08-08T15:56:43","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T19:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1038415"},"modified":"2024-08-08T15:56:44","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T19:56:44","slug":"on-pact-act-anniversary-trump-vance-project-2025-agenda-would-defund-veterans-programs-and-gut-access-to-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/on-pact-act-anniversary-trump-vance-project-2025-agenda-would-defund-veterans-programs-and-gut-access-to-care\/","title":{"rendered":"On PACT Act Anniversary, Trump-Vance Project 2025 Agenda Would Defund Veterans\u2019 Programs And Gut Access to Care\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Trump-Vance ticket\u2019s Project 2025 agenda includes ripping away benefits from veterans and active duty troops while undermining the VA\u2019s ability to fulfill its mission.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project 2025\u2019s Mandate for Leadership<\/a>: \u201cThe VA\u2019s Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) has assigned disability ratings to a growing number of health conditions over time; some are tenuously related or wholly unrelated to military service.<\/strong> The further growth in presumptive service-connected medical conditions pursued by Congress and Veteran Service Organizations, begun with Agent Orange and most recently for Burn Pits\/Airborne Toxins, has led to historic increases in mandatory VBA spending in recent years. The VA has a time-phased plan to reassess the VASRD and its ratings for compensation, but this internal process can be slow and laborious, requires Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approvals, and can become politically charged both in Congress and with VSOs. The next Administration should explore how VASRD reviews could be accelerated with clearance from OMB to target significant cost savings from revising disability rating awards for future claimants<\/strong> while preserving them fully or partially for existing claimants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raw Story<\/a>: \u201cProject 2025 will rob veterans and active duty troops of billions in benefits\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAmong other recommendations, the plan proposes eliminating concurrent eligibility for both service-related disability benefits and military retirement benefits\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe plan also proposes to end enrollment in VA medical care for veterans<\/strong> in two low-priority groups to save an estimated $69 billion through 2032 and narrow eligibility for veterans disability by excluding disabilities that cannot be related to military service\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProject 2025 also calls for privatizing the Department of Defense\u2019s current TRICARE system offered to military families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fulcrum<\/a>: \u201cProject 2025 focuses on conservative political goals and extensive outsourcing, risking politicizing the VA further and undermining its ability to serve veterans effectively.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Axios<\/a>: \u201cThis is undeniably a Trump-driven operation.<\/strong> The biggest tell: Johnny McEntee \u2014 one of Trump\u2019s closest White House aides, and his most fervent internal loyalty enforcer \u2014 is a senior adviser to Project 2025. One of the most powerful architects is Stephen Miller, a top West Wing adviser for the Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Week<\/a>: \u201cMany of Trump\u2019s indicated plans for a second term fall in line with the Project 2025 outline.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cRoberts told me that he views Heritage\u2019s role today as \u2018institutionalizing Trumpism.\u2019 <\/strong>This includes leading Project 2025, a transition blueprint that outlines a plan to consolidate power in the executive branch, dismantle federal agencies and recruit and vet government employees to free the next Republican president from a system that Roberts views as stacked against conservative power. The lesson of Trump\u2019s first year in office, Roberts told me, is that \u2018the Trump administration \u2026 simply got a slow start. And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vance stands by Trump, who repeatedly broke his promises to service members and veterans. Trump proposed cuts to veterans\u2019 benefits and left the Department of Veterans Affairs in turmoil after putting his wealthy MAGA allies at the helm.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ProPublica<\/a>: \u201cTrump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago Buddies Tried to Get the VA to Sell Access to Veterans\u2019 Medical Records\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFormer President Donald Trump empowered associates from his private club to pursue a plan for the Department of Veterans Affairs to monetize patient data, according to documents newly released by congressional investigators. As ProPublica first reported in 2018, a trio based at Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago resort weighed in on policy and personnel decisions for the federal government\u2019s second-largest agency, despite lacking any experience in the U.S. government or military.<\/strong> While previous reporting showed the trio had a hand in budgeting and contracting, their interest in turning patient data into a revenue stream was not previously known.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military Times<\/a>: \u201cTrump\u2019s \u2018Mar-a-Lago Three\u2019 had unusual, improper access on vets policy issues, VA now says\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ProPublica<\/a>: \u201cThe Mar-a-Lago Crowd spoke with VA officials daily, the documents show, reviewing all manner of policy and personnel decisions. They prodded the VA to start new programs, and officials traveled to Mar-a-Lago at taxpayer expense to hear their views. \u2018Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring,\u2019 a former administration official said.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

USA Today<\/a>: \u201c[President Donald Trump\u2019s proposed budget plan] would also slash individual unemployment benefits for disabled veterans by more than $40.8 billion over 10 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military.com<\/a>: \u201cElderly Vets Could Face Benefits Cut Under Trump Budget\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVeterans Affairs Secretary Dr. David Shulkin defended Wednesday a proposal in President Donald Trump’s federal budget plan that would cut a benefit paying thousands of dollars annually to disabled elderly veterans.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has also repeatedly disparaged our military: He\u2019s called veterans \u201csuckers\u201d and \u201closers,\u201d and attacked active-duty service members as \u201cdopes and babies.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Atlantic<\/a>:  \u201cTrump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTrump said, \u2018Why should I go to that cemetery? It\u2019s filled with losers.\u2019 In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as \u2018suckers\u2019 for getting killed.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cMoreover, people familiar with Mr. Trump\u2019s private conversations say he has long scorned those who served in Vietnam as being too dumb to have gotten out of it<\/strong>, as he did through a medical diagnosis of bone spurs in his heels. At other times, according to those familiar with the remarks, Mr. Trump has expressed bewilderment that people choose military service over making money.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cTrump unleashed his disdain, calling Afghanistan a \u2018loser war.\u2019<\/strong> That phrase hung in the air and disgusted not only the military leaders at the table but also the men and women in uniform sitting along the back wall behind their principals. They all were sworn to obey their commander in chief\u2019s commands, and here he was calling the war they had been fighting a loser war. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018You\u2019re all losers,\u2019 Trump said. \u2018You don\u2019t know how to win anymore.\u2019 \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Trump\u2019s comments] stunned nearly everyone in the room, and some vowed that they would never repeat them. Indeed, they have not been reported until now. \u2018I wouldn\u2019t go to war with you people,\u2019 Trump told the assembled brass. Addressing the room, the commander in chief barked, \u2018You\u2019re a bunch of dopes and babies.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hill<\/a>: \u201cPresident Trump on Wednesday minimized the injuries of several U.S. service members who suffered concussions during an Iranian missile attack<\/strong> on two Iraqi bases that house American personnel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump-Vance ticket\u2019s Project 2025 agenda includes ripping away benefits from veterans and active duty troops while undermining the VA\u2019s ability to fulfill its mission. Project 2025\u2019s Mandate for Leadership: \u201cThe VA\u2019s Schedule for Rating Disabilities (VASRD) has assigned disability ratings to a growing number of health conditions over time; some are tenuously related or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1038415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn PACT Act Anniversary, Trump-Vance Project 2025 Agenda Would Defund Veterans\u2019 Programs And Gut Access to Care\u00a0 - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/on-pact-act-anniversary-trump-vance-project-2025-agenda-would-defund-veterans-programs-and-gut-access-to-care\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-08-08T19:56:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-08T19:56:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/on-pact-act-anniversary-trump-vance-project-2025-agenda-would-defund-veterans-programs-and-gut-access-to-care\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/on-pact-act-anniversary-trump-vance-project-2025-agenda-would-defund-veterans-programs-and-gut-access-to-care\/\",\"name\":\"On PACT Act Anniversary, Trump-Vance Project 2025 Agenda Would Defund Veterans\u2019 Programs And Gut Access to Care\u00a0 - 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