House cuts two-thirds of Gulf War Illness Research

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House cuts two-thirds of Gulf War Illness research

The Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives yesterday

passed a VA appropriations bill by a vote of 407-12 that mirrors the

Administration's $582,674,000 request for prosthetics and other

medical research.

By Hardie

The funding falls far short of the $611 million recommended in The

Independent Budget by AMVETS, Disabled American Veterans (DAV),

Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), and the Veterans of Foreign Wars

(VFW), four of the nation's largest and most influential veterans

service organizations [the respective leadership is less than

universally respected]. Along with nearly 60 other veterans, health,

and other advocacy organizations, the four make annual recommendations

independent of VA, as their budget document's title implies, usually

at amounts substantially larger than what VA requests.

Several of the veterans service organizations have sharply criticized

the Administration's low-balled research budget. An amendment

proposed by Rep. Barrow (D-Ga.) that would have increased the

medical research funding by the amount recommended in The Independent

Budget, $28.3 million, failed along party lines by a vote of 188-230.

Of potential impact on the one-third of veterans of the 1991 Gulf War

afflicted by Gulf War Illness, a debilitating, chronic multi-symptom

illness, a House Appropriations Committee report accompanying the bill

specifically urged VA to to prioritize research on functional

gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) and Gulf War syndrome.

Read the full story here:

http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2012/06/04/house-cuts-two-thirds-of-gulf-war-illn\

ess-rearch/