As President Joe Biden said “My dad had an expression, ‘Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.’ ”

We know Biden values green energy — the $891 billion Inflation Reduction Act spoke volumes about his agenda. And we know he favors young voters as he rolls out student loan forgiveness plans, exponentially adding to the national debt.

But veterans? Not so much.

As CNN reported, the top two senators on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs blasted the Biden administration’s plan to reduce veterans’ health care staffing, calling it a “mess” that could undercut the timing and quality of care.

In a letter sent to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough Monday, Sen. Jon Tester, D-MT, and Sen. Jerry Moran, R-KS, demanded to know why the VA has paused hiring and planned to cut 10,000 full-time jobs despite veterans across the nation experiencing long wait times for care.

Their letter, obtained by CNN, called VA’s apparent “zero growth” policy a “drastic” and “shortsighted” decision. Though the VA told the committee that critical staff and some others would be exempt, Tester and Moran wrote that has not been the case.

The senators noted in their letter that some veterans across the US continue to face long waits for care.

“It is unclear how VA’s ‘zero growth’ strategy comports with this reality,” wrote the senators, who expressed concern “that such a significant shift in policy could not only have long-term impacts on the Department’s ability to deliver timely, high-quality care but also negatively impact its ability to recruit and retain health care professionals.”

“Zero growth” and quality health care are mutually exclusive. “Zero growth’ for a department concerned with veterans’ care is a recipe for disaster.

Biden is always up for laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, and giving a speech lauding those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Equal respect should be given for those who served our country, lived through wars, and now need care.

The president has done much to appease the progressive wing of the Democratic Party  —  from piling on subsidies for electric vehicles and kneecapping the fossil fuel industry, to denouncing Israel’s approach to the war against Hamas and throwing money at anyone who took out a loan for college.

Veterans are not courted, and judging by this latest VA plan, not particularly valued in budgetary terms.

At 81, Biden is feeling the years. He has arthritis in his spine, sleep apnea, asymptomatic a-fib and takes Eliquis. He also has top-tier medical care as afforded the president of the United States. Biden doesn’t have to wait in long lines for appointments, arrange a ride to the VA to see a doctor, and hope the quality of his care doesn’t diminish due to a staffing cut.

Veterans, many of who spent their youth on battlefields instead of college dorms, deserve to be as high a priority as young voters with degrees and debt.

Show us what you value, Mr. President. Get on the VA.

Editorial cartoon by Chip Bok (Creators Syndicate)