Care-less homecoming for vets

Not only has the Bush administration failed to ensure adequate care for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress and veterans can't even get straight answers about what's gone wrong.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., last week tried questioning Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson about the hole in his budget. She wanted to know why his agency needs an emergency appropriation of $1.5 billion to cover a medical care deficit this year, and why it will need another $1 billion to pay for coverage in the 2006 budget year. "Do you have a problem?" Sen. Murray asked. "We certainly don't have a crisis," Mr. Nicholson answered. Semantic chicanery is the last thing vets with health problems need to hear.

For months, Sen. Murray and her Democratic colleagues had warned the White House that it hadn't set aside enough money to cover the costs of treating the wars' wounded. For months, the White House and Republicans insisted that there was plenty. The truth came out last month when Mr. Nicholson, former chairman of the Republican National Committee, had to transfer money from other accounts -- maintenance, building and equipment -- just to keep health services running. He admitted that the agency had vastly underestimated the number of personnel returning from combat who would seek treatment.

Democrats were angry because the administration had ignored them, Republicans were angry because the administration had double-crossed them, and veterans were angry because once again the people who had sacrificed came home and found themselves left to sacrifice more. On Wednesday, the Senate voted 96-0 to give the VA the money it needs. The next order of business for Congress is making sure that veterans don't get shorted again. Especially at the White House and the VA, "Support our troops" should be more than words on a bumper sticker.