“Unfortunately, Congressional leaders let the fiscal year end without passing this bill they know our veterans need,” the president said. “So I urged Congress to pass this bill by Veterans Day – and they still have failed to send me this vital legislation.”

Bush also asked the Senate to confirm his nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs, retired Army doctor Lieutenant General James Peake (Ret.), and urged Congress to pass reforms to veterans’ care recommended by the Dole-Shalala Commission on Wounded Warriors.

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a former three-star Navy Admiral who delivered the weekly radio address on behalf of the Democrats, touted his party’s support for an unprecedented increase in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ budget and for boosting veterans’ medical benefits.

The freshman lawmaker also trumpeted Democrats’ support for increased funds to treat veterans’ mental health problems, tacitly blaming a spike in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on unusually long deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Each war is different: our World War II veterans were in combat on average for six months – in the most horrific of battles – with some dwell time in between for physical and mental rest,” Sestak said. “Today, our soldiers and Marines in Iraq go ‘outside the wire’ into combat every day for 15 straight months, with many returning for several tours.”

Budget battles will continue to strain the White House’s relations with Congress this fall, with the Bush administration having threatened to veto any appropriations bill that exceeds the president’s level of spending. Democrats scored a big victory on Thursday when the Senate overrode Bush’s veto of a water resources bill. It was the first veto override of his presidency.

However, Bush is likely to support Democrats’ proposed $64 billion in spending for veterans affairs and military construction, now that Senate Republicans succeeded in cleaving it from a larger labor, health and education spending bill.

Speaking at a San Antonio treatment center for wounded veterans on Thursday, he said “there’s obviously some disagreements between me and the Congress. But there’s no disagreement over the amount of money we’re going to spend for veterans.”