, Columnist
The Graphic Reality of the VA's Funding Woes
The developing scandal at a story the Department of Veterans Affairs is unavoidably a story about money -- specifically, whether the VA has enough of it to spend on disabled veterans' care.
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The scandal over alleged secret waiting lists at the Department of Veterans Affairs is many different stories at once: human capriciousness, bureaucratic collapse, political brinkmanship. But it is also, unavoidably, a story about money -- specifically, whether the VA has enough of it to spend on veterans' care.
As Bloomberg View wrote in our editorial yesterday, at first glance the answer seems as if it must be yes. Here's the agency's annual funding from 2003 to 2013: