Could you possibly attribute your quotation to someone so we can all agree that it's from a neutral third party? Even if it is, ask yourself, is the increase keeping up with inflation? How many more vets are there due to Iraq and Afganistan (i.e. what is the per-troop amount?).
Here are some quotes I found:
“The White House quickly backpedaled Thursday on Pentagon plans to cut the combat pay of the 157,000 U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan after disclosure of the idea quickly became a political embarrassment.” [Source: San Francisco Chronicle, 8/15/03]
“The VA Under Secretary for Health testified last year that it requires an average yearly medical care increase of 12% to 14% to meet the cost of inflation and mandated salary increases. However, $310 million is only 1.2% more than the FY 2004 appropriation. The Administration’s budget proposal relies far too heavily on budget gimmicks, major cuts in long term care programs, higher out-of-pocket costs for veterans, and not enough on appropriated dollars.” [Source: Paralyzed Veterans of America, release, 2/3/04]
"The FY '06 budget proposal calls for $33.4 billion in discretionary funding -- mostly for health care -- and $37.4 billion in mandatory funding, mostly for compensation, pension and other benefit programs. This represents an increase of 2.7 percent over this year's discretionary budget." [
www.news-medical.net 2/05]