When dupes of the Republican party say, "Just remember that Obama has added $4 trillion to the national debt since......." READ THE FREAKIN' US CONSTITUTION FOR PETE'S SAKE.

This debt of the USA, since January of 2011, is accruing to the thanks of this Republican controlled Congress!! What part of that don't people here understand. Look at Article I, Section 8; who is given the power to tax and spend?

When dupes of the Republican party say, "Just remember that Obama has added $4 trillion to the national debt since......." READ THE FREAKIN' US CONSTITUTION FOR PETE'S SAKE.

This debt of the USA, since January of 2011, is accruing to the thanks of this Republican controlled Congress!! What part of that don't people here understand. Look at Article I, Section 8; who is given the power to tax and spend?

When dupes of the Republican party say, "Just remember that Obama has added $4 trillion to the national debt since......." READ THE FREAKIN' US CONSTITUTION FOR PETE'S SAKE.

This debt of the USA, since January of 2011, is accruing to the thanks of this Republican controlled Congress!! What part of that don't people here understand. Look at Article I, Section 8; who is given the power to tax and spend?

The annual budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs has more than doubled since 2003 to a requested $132 billion for fiscal 2012. That amount is expected to rise sharply over the next four decades as lingering health problems for veterans become more serious as they grow older. Costs for Vietnam veterans did not peak until 30 or 40 years after the end of the war, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “We will have a vast overhang in domestic costs for caring for the wounded and covering retirement expenditure of the war fighters,” said Loren Thompson, a policy expert with the Lexington Institute. “The U.S. will continue to incur major costs for decades to come.”

Caring for veterans, more than 2 million of them, could alone reach $1 trillion, according to Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, in Congressional testimony in July. More than 32,000 soldiers were wounded in Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Altogether, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost the U.S. between $4 trillion and $6 trillion. The U.S. has already spent $2 trillion on the wars after including debt interest and the higher cost of veterans’ disabilities.

The annual budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs has more than doubled since 2003 to a requested $132 billion for fiscal 2012. That amount is expected to rise sharply over the next four decades as lingering health problems for veterans become more serious as they grow older. Costs for Vietnam veterans did not peak until 30 or 40 years after the end of the war, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “We will have a vast overhang in domestic costs for caring for the wounded and covering retirement expenditure of the war fighters,” said Loren Thompson, a policy expert with the Lexington Institute. “The U.S. will continue to incur major costs for decades to come.”

Caring for veterans, more than 2 million of them, could alone reach $1 trillion, according to Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, in Congressional testimony in July. More than 32,000 soldiers were wounded in Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. Altogether, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could cost the U.S. between $4 trillion and $6 trillion. The U.S. has already spent $2 trillion on the wars after including debt interest and the higher cost of veterans’ disabilities.

Those costs include interest payments on the billions borrowed to fund the war; the cost of maintaining military bases in Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain to defend Iraq or reoccupy the country if the Baghdad government unravels; and the expense of using private security contractors to protect U.S. property in the country and to train Iraqi forces.