WASHINGTON - Maine Sen. Susan Collins told Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro that his proposal to provide a new $178 million program to house homeless veterans who received dishonorable discharges needs work.
Collins said she is sympathetic to assisting veterans discharged under the "don't ask don't tell" policy, but she won't support the plan as proposed.
"If we are talking about homeless veterans who received dishonorable discharges because of crimes they committed, I don't understand why we would prioritize help to them," she said.
Castro agreed with Collins that the proposal needs some work.
Collins is the chair of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the HUD budget. She says the HUD budget overall has several wrong priorities that the committee will have to address as it works on the agency's budget.
