In his ever-expanding effort to find ways to fund his liberal programs, President Barack Obama is considering an incredibly stupid and morally bankrupt proposal.

Veterans groups are angry after President Obama told them Monday that he is still considering a proposal to have treatment for service-connected injuries charged to veterans private insurance plans.
President Obama, with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shineski, spoke with leaders of veterans groups Monday.

Leaders of the countrys most prominent veterans groups met Monday at the White House with Obama, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Steven Kosiak, the director in charge of defense spending for the Office of Management and Budget.

Some of the veterans groups were caught off guard when the president said the administration is still thinking about the idea as a way of generating $540 million for the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2010. The groups and some members of Congress have been very vocal in opposing the idea.

The message, according to some of the people in the room, was that if the groups do not like this idea, they need to come back with another way of saving or raising revenue for the VA.

I got the distinct impression that the only hope of this plan not being enacted is for an alternative plan to be developed that would generate the desired $540 million in revenue, Cmdr. David Rehbein of the American Legion said in a written statement.

Let me say this about Shinseki standing by while amiably while this proposal is discussed: Courtney Masengale.

As for President Obama, heres what he had to say during the campaign as he took Sen. John McCain to task for not supporting an over-generous G.I. Bill that would have made it difficult for the armed forces to retain troops for a second enlistment -- when they are the most experienced and most valuable.

We all know that the sacred trust does not end when the uniform comes off. That’s why it’s time to build a 21st-century VA. No more red tape. It’s time to give every service member electronic copies of their medical records and service records upon discharge so that they can immediately get the services that they’ve earned. No more shortfalls. We’ll fully fund VA health care. No more delays. We’ll pass on-time budgets. No more means testing. It’s time to allow every veteran into the VA system.

Of course, the kicker is that Obama's plan to foist off injured veterans on private health insurance will only do three things: increase insurance premiums for everyone, make it harder for troops to get supplementary insurance in the first place and prevent wounded veterans from getting hired in the private sector in the first place.

After all is said and done, this proposal won't get passed. Democrats in Congress aren't stupid enough to go for it.

So, if Democrats in Congress realize this plan is a no-go from the start, why did the Obama administration put it out there for public consumption? For an administration that's supposed to be so smart, this is just the latest in a string of really dumb moves.