This week, Nebraska lawmakers heard a proposal from the director of the state VA on behalf of Governor Jim Pillen, to pull $5 million dollars from the Nebraska Veterans Aid Fund to cover a budget shortfall at the state veterans homes. This fund is used to cover applications from veterans for emergencies such as money for rent (story HERE).

While the intentions are good, it’s a bad idea. Emergency funds should be for emergencies. The state already borrowed from the fund a couple of years back to cover costs for cemeteries.

The explanations from wanting to borrow from the fund once more didn’t sound like the most urgent. “Accelerating efficiency” was a term that illustrated to me like we could explore options for getting the money from somewhere else.

And I’m not the wildcard on this one. There were several county service officers who provided testimony against the proposal. Even the painfully pedestrian American Legion stood against the measure.

One point that did come from the meeting was expanding uses for the fund. That’s an excellent idea.

Because the truth is that Nebraska, just like here in Wisconsin where this blog is published, and Florida, where I grew up, has plenty of homeless veterans who need help. And at risk homeless veterans like myself who struggle to keep a roof over our heads can’t afford to let once cent go misspent.

Nebraska leaders should turn away this proposal. There has to be extra general funds from elsewhere that could be used for this purpose.

We never know when the next emergency will hit. And veterans should rest easy knowing that Nebraska will still be thinking of them when that time comes.

Email Governor Jim Pillen HERE and tell him to preserve the Veterans Aid Fund.