VA spending concerns Pennsylvania Legion

The Department of Pennsylvania American Legion is concerned about the decision the Department of Veterans Affairs, specifically VISN 4, plans to spend nearly $1 million to customize an upscale office space and add an executive fitness center for their employees working at the Del Monte Building located on the North Shore of Pittsburgh. The Department of Pennsylvania feels this allocation of funds may not be in the best interest of local veterans in VISN 4, which include New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, Ohio and of Pennsylvania.

The Department of Pennsylvania acknowledges that there are many budgets that encompass the operation of a department as complex as VA, including office renovation, but VA was designed for patient care and veteran benefits. In 1865, President Lincoln called upon Congress in his second inaugural address "to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan." VA itself adopted that statement as their core mission. The Pennsylvania American Legion expects VA to uphold that promise and at the same time be sensible in its decisions concerning taxpayer money earmarked for the care of the American veteran.

The concern of many veterans, including the 200,000 Pennsylvania Legionnaires, is how does an executive fitness center and prime real estate for office space benefit the local veteran? This comes the same year a therapeutic pool was closed at a local VA hospital due to lack of funds.

"I can grasp the fact that many executive offices are more appealing than the average office space but I would expect the VA to be mindful of the duty bestowed upon them to care for the veteran and their family, " said Pete Wasco, Pennsylvania department commander. "We expect our VISN 4 to be less extravagant for the executives and more sensible with the finances of the VA, especially with the federal deficit forefront and our soldiers still in harm's way."

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