Veterans Groups Urge Full War Funding

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Veterans Groups Urge Full War Funding
By Nathan Burchfiel
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
April 20, 2007

EXCERPT

(CNSNews.com) - The leaders of two large national veterans' organizations on Thursday called on Democratic leaders in Congress to offer a war funding bill free of withdrawal timelines and "pork barrel" spending.

"This is not a Democrat or a Republican issue. The sooner our troops complete the mission, the sooner they'll return home," Gary Kurpis, commander-in-chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), said in a conference call.

"The funding package is so critical to the training and the equipment and fielding of our troops," Kurpis said. "With it, the [troop] surge has a chance of succeeding."

Paul Morin, national commander of the American Legion, said the war appropriations bill is the wrong way for opponents of the war to voice their opposition. "The war funding bill should be passed without any dates of withdrawal or any other issues not concerning the war funding," he said.

"They have many other avenues to do their pork barrel projects," Morin said, echoing criticism that the bills passed through both houses of Congress include numerous unrelated spending projects.