To the Point

What's Happening to America's Veterans?

Even in peace time, America-s veterans are a big drain on the federal budget. In Iraq and Afghanistan, new armor means a new generation of veterans is coming home with wounds that would have been fatal in past wars. That's increasing the pressure on the Veterans' Administration. President Bush has called for cuts in veterans- benefits, but in a time of continuing combat, Congress is gun shy. On Memorial Day edition of To the Point, Warren Olney hears about the prospects of medical care for the millions who've served in the past and those now serving in America-s armed forces. Making News: France Rejects European Constitution, EU Insists Charter 'Not Dead' As predicted, French voters have repudiated the new European Union Constitution by a resounding 55 percent. But today, leaders of the European Union are insisting that the rejection won't stall the drive for international integration. That reaction was also predicted, in advance of yesterday's voting, by Graham Bowley of the International Herald Tribune. Reporter's Notebook: Blowing a Hole in a Comet Previous space explorations have orbited planets or sent probes by parachute to delicately land on the surface. On January 12, at Cape Canaveral, NASA launched a mission aimed at hitting a comet so hard it-ll leave a crater the size of the Rose Bowl. Cornell University Professor Joe Veverka, who is part of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Impact science team, has more on the project known at JPL as "the revenge of the dinosaurs." (This segment originally aired January 11.)