Updated! Will Sen Parry speak up now? State funding for veterans' funeral honor guards cut

See September 2 update below.

Bluestem supposes that it's probably better to direct what money remains for veterans' programs in the state budget toward the needs of living men and women who served our country.

Still, it's hard to avoid melancholy after reading the headline, Funding for honor guards at vet funerals cut, in the Austin Daily Herald. The deets:

Minnesota will no longer pay for honor guards at veterans’ funerals, forcing the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and other groups to seek new sources of funding to help them give military honors to veterans who have died.

Up until now, the state reimbursed service organizations up to $50 for each funeral and allocated $100,000 for the program annually. But the funding was discontinued as part of budget cuts being imposed to help plug a projected $5 billion deficit. . . .

Bill Christenson, who directs the Honor Guard at the Albert Lea American Legion, said his post has been reimbursed $10,000 since 2008. He said the funds paid for uniforms, mileage, rifle shells used during military salutes and musicians who played Taps. He said he was surprised to learn that the grant funding would end.

“We’ll have to find some other way of doing it,” Christensen said.

Federal law requires funeral honors for an eligible veteran if requested by the veteran’s family. At a minimum, the honors include presenting a folded American flag to the next of kin and playing Taps.

Heavens forbid that we as a state might ask another dime from job creators for that service. Local veterans service clubs vow to find a way to fund the honor guards.

Earlier this year, Senator Mike Parry, who chairs the Senate Veterans and Government Reform committee, refused to answer a question on the floor of the senate about possible cuts to veterans programs.

Will he say something now?

Update Sept 2: On Wednesday, MPR reported in State to continue providing funds for honor guard at veterans' funerals:

Veterans Affairs Commissioner Larry Shellito on Wednesday announced the state will continue to fund groups that provide funeral honors for veterans.

The Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton had cut the program's funding for the next two years because of the state's budget crisis. But Shellito said the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs will continue to provide funds to veteran service organizations for funerals.

"All veterans will receive proper military funeral honors. That is a stated goal, and I'll be held to that one," Shellito told MPR's All Things Considered. "This is one thing we are not letting fall through the cracks."

Today, Senator Parry (MPR spells his name worng but it's definitely the same guy) was silent no more. MPR reports in Lawmaker vows to re-fund honor guard for veterans' funerals:

The chair of the state Senate's Veterans Affairs Committee says he intends to put funding for funeral honors into state law next session.

The issue came up after language from a state budget bill last year wasn't renewed. Veterans groups worried they would no longer receive small state grants that fund flag ceremonies, buglers and other funeral rites.

Sen. Mike Perry [sic], R-Waseca, says he'll include language in state law that authorizes an existing fund, the Support Our Troops account, to pay for funeral honors. . . .

In a statement issued Friday morning, Gov. Mark Dayton said he supported the legislation and also wanted a permanent source of funding for funeral honors.

It's great to see this senseless cut laid to rest--without ceremony. [end update]

Photo: Frank Glick's viral photo of a Bald Eagle perched on Sgt. Maurie Ruch's marker in Fort Snelling cemetery. If the GOP has its way with the EPA and MPCA, even the national bird's salute to vets might vanish.

If the mirror fits: Why is Mike Parry so angry, and why won't he provide funding details?

McLeod vets' needs require second county officer; Republican bills cut veterans programs