$160m for vets to come from food stamps, farmers, students

The Office of Management and Budget has requested $160.5 million for free credit monitoring for veterans. One of the first things I wondered was “where does the money come from?” Well, now I know. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is requesting $160.5 million to pay for credit monitoring for vets.

The $160.5 million would come from “offsets”, $29 million of which would come from within Veterans Affairs (VA). The balance would be pulled from:  

• $20 million from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Stamp Employment and Training Program
• $40 million from USDA’s Trade Adjustment Assistance for Farmers program
• $6.7 million from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Professions Student Loans program
• $49.1 million from the Department of Labor’s Responsible Reintegration of Youthful Offenders program
• $9 million from the Department of Transportation’s Next Generation High Speed Rail program
• $1.4 million from the Bureau of Public Debt
• $5.3 million from the IRS

 The OMB’s letter is located at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/amendments/supplemental_6_28_06.pdf.