Montana Veterans Sound Off on VA Budget Bloat, Bureaucracy

More money. More staff. So why did we see a decline in VA service to veterans under 4 years of Joe Biden and Jon Tester? A Montana veteran and a military spouse weigh in.

I'm an Iraq/Afghanistan veteran, and on Friday our friend and fellow vet George Blackard joined us on the radio for "Freedom Friday. He said he wanted to set the record straight when it comes to VA spending, and the efforts by DOGE to trim back the $2 trillion deficit that President Trump inherited on top of the $36 trillion debt.

George Blackard: "Let me put this into perspective for you, the budget now is over 350 billion, with a "b", dollars. Four years ago it was $150 billion. They (nearly) doubled the VA budget in four years, not a single thing improved. So that just reinforces my assertion for all these years that throwing money at something doesn't fix it. In fact, you have the new VA Secretary that is in there, and he talks about this- Secretary Doug Collins- he said, if the answer was money and people, then we should have solved our problems at the VA a long time ago. It's not resources. That is the thing."

Last summer, we told you how the Biden Administration was actually undermining care for veterans, while simultaneously expanding the government bureaucracy.

George Blackard: "If you get down and look at the truth and the details about it, it is hard to get fired from the VA, even if you are a poor performer, because the (federal employees) union is so strong."

Dawn Longie is the spouse of a veteran. She works for Concerned Veterans for America-Montana. She has become a powerful voice for veterans and their families here in Montana. (The spouses usually are the best advocates for our troops, right?) She shared this in a public post on Facebook.

Here's the audio of Friday's chat with George: