WASHINGTON, March 9 (UPI) -- A prominent Republican has vowed to support increased funding for military health care.
"I think the more pressing concern should be for Congress to immediately address funding and resource shortfalls during fiscal year 2007 and 2008 in both the (Department of Defense) and (Veterans Administration) systems that are struggling to take care of the demands placed on them," Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, said in a statement Thursday.
Hunter was speaking before the HASC opened a hearing on military health care following the exposure of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center health care scandal.
"Before Congress levies any more new, possibly unfunded, statutory mandates on the department, we ought to step up to fully funding the medical and operational requirements we already know. That certainly means to me additional fiscal year 2007 and 2008 funding," Hunter said.
"Congress will try to fix the identified problems through quick enactment of new legislation. Some of that may be appropriate, but I would urge that any statutory initiatives taken be limited to those that are absolutely needed in the short term," the congressman said. "Broader statutory fixes would be better informed after we get feedback from the various investigative and review efforts that have begun."
"We must ensure that the unprecedented success of the military medical system is never diminished," he said.
