WASHINGTON -- Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., blasted the Bush administration Thursday for trying to run the Department of Veterans Affairs "on the cheap" and said the VA delays treatments for veterans seeking health care long enough that they give up.

"I think this is very widespread and quite frankly it disturbs me a bunch that this country makes promises to people, sends them into war and then comes back and says, you know what, we'll just string you out until you forget about it," he said.

The lack of funding stems from the administration's vision, he said.

"I think that somebody said a while back they've been trying to do this war on the cheap, and I think they're trying to do the VA on the cheap," he said.

"Delay is denial," he added. "Delay happens far more often than it should. They are running these folks around, and they're running 'em around because they don't have enough money. And to top that off, they're also burning out the personnel who are giving treatment."

Tester said he put 1,000 miles on his vehicle last weekend in Montana, spending much of the time talking with veterans around the state.

"I don't care what it says on the Web sites, I don't care what folks in the administration are saying, there's a lot of veterans out there who are hurting," he said. "They're waiting in line for health care and they shouldn't be."

Tester said health care treatment is good once veterans can be seen, but that many veterans who encounter long delays will not return for treatment.

"These folks, especially the ones that have the mental health problems, it doesn't take much to string them out and they won't come back, and the problem will still be there, and it'll get worse, and the families will be impacted, on and on and on," he said.

VA spokesman Matt Burns said that since Bush took office, the department's health care funding has increased by nearly 70 percent.

"Health care continues to be funded at unprecedented levels, and support comes from the president and Congress," Burns said. "The department is widely recognized as providing world-class care, and with the continued support of the president and Congress the department will continue to carry out its mission of caring for our nations' heroes."

Asked about delays, Burns said the department does "everything possible" to ensure that veterans receive treatment in a timely manner.

"We operate more than 1,400 points of service for veterans and it's certainly our goal to ensure veterans have timely access to the care they need in the communities where they live," he said.

Tester, who sits on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, made the remarks at a press conference with other senators from the panel, a few veterans who fought in Iraq and officials from veterans groups.

President Bush will send his fiscal year 2008 budget blueprint to Congress on Monday. Tester and the other senators vowed to hold hearings on it and to increase funding for the VA.

Tester also noted that VA funding is now discretionary, meaning it must be approved each year by Congress, which can increase or decrease it. He said it should be reclassified as mandatory, like Medicare and Social Security.

"Every time the budget comes up, our veterans have to come hat in hand and ask for dollars," he said. "That's not right."

He noted that only Democratic senators were at the event, but added, "This should not be an issue that revolves around political parties. This is an issue of fairness."

Tester said he met with a group in Hamilton who told him that if Vietnam veterans have a problem that comes up, they in some cases must go to the National Archives and get a document showing where they were on a certain day that would cause the problem, such as exposure to Agent Orange.

"It takes sometimes up to two years to do that, because there's nobody who will do it," Tester said. "I'm actually, if we can make it work and I'm not sure we can at this point in time, hell, take part of my staff and go do it. These people need help. And I shouldn't even be thinking that way, this is a VA problem, the VA should be doing it.

"And the VA should be working to get these people into the program if they need help instead of trying to keep them out," he added. "And that's what I heard over and over again, 'If they string me out long enough, I'll die.' "