Lawmakers want answers on millions transferred from veterans home

Wisconsin lawmakers from both parties are calling for an audit of the state’s largest veterans home and raising questions about millions of dollars transferred from it for use in other veterans programs.

Democratic legislators have demanded answers about reports of inadequate care at the 721-bed state Veterans Home at King in rural Waupaca County, charging that Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s administration “raided” the home’s surplus to fill a budget deficit.

Last year, Walker’s Department of Veterans Affairs transferred $12 million from the King home to the perennially underfunded Veterans Trust Fund, which covers nearly $14 million in expenditures annually for loan and grant programs.

Meanwhile, the King home had built a budget surplus of $39 million by the end of the 2015 fiscal year, thanks in part to Congressional action about 10 years ago that changed the rules for federal “per diem” payments made for each veteran in a nursing home.

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