A Republican plan to address the United States hitting its debt ceiling should not affect funding for veterans benefits, defense or homeland security, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Ooltewah, said Friday.
The bill passed in the U.S. House last week proposes cutting government spending and raising the federal debt limit by around $1.3 trillion to allow the country to keep making critical payments on its existing $31.4 trillion debt.
Analyses by the White House and the Department of Veterans Affairs estimated the cuts could reduce funding for veterans benefits by 22%.
That estimate is based on the assumption that defense spending would not be subject to cuts, an exemption House Republicans talked about while working on the bill but isn’t explicitly included in its text.
Cutting veterans benefits would make it harder for veterans to get medical treatment and could worsen the existing backlog of disability claims, which would delay payments for pensions, life insurance and education under the GI Bill, the analysis from Veterans Affairs said.
The White House said spending reductions could cut 81,000 Veterans Affairs jobs. On Thursday, more than 50 House Republicans signed a letter sent to Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough condemning the White House’s analysis as baseless and dishonest. Fleischmann did not sign that letter.
Fleischmann said in a media briefing Friday that in addition to defense spending, money for veterans benefits and homeland security would not be affected by the proposal.
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“Those three will not be cut at all,” Fleischmann said, speaking to reporters in Chattanooga ahead of the city’s 74th annual Armed Forces Day Parade.
Like defense spending, there are no exemptions for veterans benefits or homeland security spending spelled out in the debt limit bill language — although Fleischmann and other Republicans have said it’s their intention to hold those priorities harmless.
Fleischmann in January was appointed chairman of the House’s Energy and Water Subcommittee. His is one of 12 committees that fall under the House Appropriations Committee, which is tasked with deciding how to spend government money.
With the three subcommittees that oversee defense, homeland security and veterans’ affairs taken off the table for spending reductions, the other nine Appropriations subcommittees could be subject to higher cuts.
“That actually makes my job a little bit more difficult, as chairman of Energy and Water, because that is actually one of the subcommittees that will be impacted,” he told reporters Friday.
Hearings on the bill began in the Senate on Thursday. Democrats criticized the proposal for its potential cuts to federal programs.
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Even if veterans benefits are spared, cutting other areas of federal spending could still affect veterans by limiting options for housing assistance, food stamps, homeless services and health care often utilized by veterans, according to the Veterans Affairs analysis.
Fleischmann emphasized the Chattanooga area’s connections to the military ahead of Friday’s parade, which he said is the longest continually-run military parade in the country.
The congressman pointed to the National Nuclear Security Administration facility in Oak Ridge and Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma, where nuclear and supersonic weapons are developed, as key contributions to national security.
This year’s parade honored the Air Force, though other military branches were well represented.
Parade marshal Air Force Gen. Duke Z. Richardson said the parade is a way to honor those who’ve served and are serving, but he also hopes it can act as a recruiting tool for young Chattanoogans watching the procession.
“What we’re finding is a lot of the younger folks in America don’t have a proclivity to want to join the military,” Richardson said during Friday’s briefing. “So we’re kind of keeping an eye on that.”
Contact Ellen Gerst at egerst@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6319.