Powell plans to address veterans at the VFW national convention

CINCINNATI (AP) -- Secretary of State Colin Powell will address the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention on Monday, hours after President Bush speaks to the same organization.
Powell's address at a banquet Monday night will follow his boss' scheduled appearance earlier in the day. He is a retired Army general and former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, a Vietnam veteran, is to address the VFW on Wednesday.
Anthony Principi, the Vietnam veteran who heads the Department of Veterans Affairs under Bush, is to address the convention on Tuesday.
Principi's department operates a national health-care system for veterans, and VFW officials say health care for their members is a top priority. The organization claims 2.6 million members.
"We expect the national spotlight is going to be on us all week long," said John Furgess, the Vietnam veteran from Nashville, Tenn., who is to become the VFW's national commander at the Cincinnati convention. "We usually are, every four years."
The VFW and other veterans' organizations have lobbied Congress for increases in VA funding.
The VFW went on record this year in opposition to the Bush administration's proposal that would have increased patients' co-payments for medical services and created a "user fee." VFW officials said those charges could make VA health care unaffordable for many veterans.