The veterans groups were unhappy, as well.
“Anytime you ask a direct question and get a vague answer, it makes you nervous,” Kelley said. “We didn’t want to be held hostage.”
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Nonetheless, speaking of the administration Kelley added, “I think it was an honest attempt to make sure they were following the rule of law.”
OMB spokeswoman Santillo said a decision was reached “after careful examination of the law.”
In April, OMB issued a letter affirming that “all programs administered by the VA, including Veterans’ Medical Care, are exempt from sequestration.”
But this time the letter held open the possibility that VA’s administrative expenses could be subject to the automatic cuts.
“No sooner did OMB seemingly close the door on the sequester question and its impact on VA, it has now opened several others,” Miller complained in a letter sent in response.
VA Secretary Eric Shinseki reiterated the uncertainty in an appearance before Congress on July 25. “We have been informed that VA is exempt from sequestration except for administrative costs,” he testified. “I don’t have a definition of administrative costs right now.”
In September, OMB delivered a sequestration report to Congress that the administration said put the issue to rest.
“After even further analysis, OMB made clear that VA’s administrative costs are also exempt,” Santillo said.
But after Miller complained that the OMB report was not definitive, Shinseki sent a letter Dec. 14 reaffirming that all VA programs were exempt, “including administrative expenses.”
“This exemption acknowledges the nation’s obligation to provide care and benefits to our veterans who earned them, their eligible family members, and our survivors,” Shinseki told VA employees in a message Monday. “Even in a time of difficult economic choices, this obligation to veterans must endure.”
For veterans groups, there is relief that the VA is exempt from sequestration, but alarm at what may lie ahead for veterans.
“We apparently dodged a bullet in the short term, but the bullets are still flying,” the VFW’s Kelley said.
Eric Yoder contributed to this report.
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