Stutzman wants reasons for VA budget increase

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KENDALLVILLE – By and large, Rep. Marlin Stutzman dislikes the federal budget blueprint President Obama offered Monday.

His objections? The proposal raises taxes on high earners, chips away too slowly at deficit spending and fails to revamp Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

But he is reserving judgment on a White House request to increase spending by the Department of Veterans Affairs by 10.5 percent in fiscal year 2013.

“It definitely has to be justified. Why the high increase?” Stutzman said Monday during an interview at his district office in Kendallville, where he and staff members were having an open house for constituents.

“We realize there is going to be a need, with more veterans coming back” from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said.

For more on this story, see Tuesday’s print edition of The Journal Gazette or visit www.journalgazette.net after 3 a.m. Tuesday.

bfrancisco@jg.net

© Copyright 2012 The Journal Gazette. All rights reserved. Neither this material nor its presentation may be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. © Copyright 2012 The Journal Gazette. All rights reserved. Neither this material nor its presentation may be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.