The Obama administration's proposed 2010 budget outlines a plan to increase funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs by $25 billion over the next five years, starting with an 11 percent increase in discretionary funding next year.



According to a fact sheet prepared by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the president's Veterans Affairs budget "enables VA to create Centers of Excellence and provides additional veteran-oriented specialty care in areas including prosthetics, vision and spinal cord injury, aging, and women"s health."

A more detailed version of the president's proposed budget shows a nearly 14 percent increase in funding for medical and prosthetic research next year. The budget also earmarks up to $5 million for the Graduate Psychology Education Program, which includes treatment of veterans, to support increased training of psychologists skilled in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and related disorders.

And the economic stimulus plan approved in February included $150 million for the construction of state extended-care facilities, including nursing homes, for veterans.

It remains to be seen where Congress will end up on the president's budget plan, but Obama has set in motion a plan to keep this promise. And so we rate it In the Works.