John Bel Edwards: “when Mr. Nussle, the chairman of the committee, talked about the VA budget line, what he didn't do is tell the full…”

“when Mr. Nussle, the chairman of the committee, talked about the VA budget line, what he didn't do is tell the full story. The full story is if you take out the mandatory spending in that VA budget level, what you end up with is going from VA discretionary spending, which covers VA health care, from $36.9 billion in 2007 to $34.4 billion in 2011. That is just not a cut after inflation; that is a cut before you take into account inflation. So the bottom line is that this budget as proposed will require a massive cut in VA medical services during time of war. That is not right for our veterans; and he can show all of the charts he wants to about the past, but he knows that you take out the mandatory spending, you are cutting VA discretionary spending. And to try to hide that fact is creative at best and dishonest at worst.”