Money Slashed for Troops' Brain Injury Treatment

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2006 — -- The head of biggest combat veterans groups lambasted congressional action that cut in half federal funding for the research and treatment of brain injuries caused by explosions, which one neurology expert has called the signature injury of the war in Iraq.

The proposed funding cut "clearly indicates that the Congress is out of touch with the realities and consequences of war," Jim Mueller, the outgoing commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a Vietnam War veteran, said in a written statement. "You either take care of the troops or you do not."

Vice President Cheney, addressing the group's national convention in Reno, Nev., Monday pledged to "enhance the respect shown by our government to veterans ... not just in words but in resources."

The Bush administration has requested $7 million in funding for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center as it has done for the last several years, but in the past, Congress has given the center another $7 million, for a total of $14 million. This year, though, Congress has not added the additional funding.

The House passed its version of the spending bill in June and the Senate is to take up the bill when lawmakers return from their August recess.

A spokesman for the Senate Appropriations Committee said the reduction in funding from previous years was the result of spending restraints.

The center, actually a network of facilities around the country, is a collaboration between the Pentagon and the Veterans Affairs Department. Founded in 1992, it operates at seven military and VA medical centers around the nation, and runs a civilian clinic in Charlottesville, Va.

In addition to treating combat veterans, the centers also treat other government employees, including State Department officials who have suffered traumatic brain injuries in the line of their official duties. The program also researches ways to better diagnose brain injuries.

Traumatic brain injuries result from a violent blow to the head --