@coldjoint,
Quote:Lip service is all liberals give the military. The VA deaths tell you that.
I'm a vet. I use VA and I know who's screwing with VA funding. Its people like you. Go **** yourself.
http://www.legion.org/veteransbenefits/95316/legion-opposes-proposal-cut-va-spending (another source you don't like, right?)
Legion opposes proposal to cut VA spending
The American Legion - January 29, 2011
Featured in Veterans Benefits Center
Legion opposes proposal to cut VA spending
Responding to a proposal by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to freeze VA health-care spending and cut veterans disability payments to help reduce federal spending, American Legion National Commander Jimmie L. Foster said his organization steadfastly opposes the initiative.
"It is absurd to suggest such a thing when we are fighting two wars and creating more veterans every day who have served their country honorably and have already earned their benefits," Foster said.
The plan, which proposes to cut a total of $400 billion in federal spending, is derived from an Oct. 28 report from the Heritage Foundation that projects $2.5 billion in savings from a freeze on VA health-care spending increases, and $1.9 billion in savings from scrapping disability payments for veterans already receiving Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) .
Peter Gaytan, executive director of The American Legion's office in Washington, said "Congress must find other ways to reduce federal spending that don't affect veterans benefits and health care.
"The need for high-quality veterans health care certainly isn't decreasing, so the VA budget shouldn't, either. Congress needs to stay focused on providing an adequate budget to care for those who have made sacrifices in Iraq, Afghanistan or in previous wars."
Tim Tetz, legislative director of The American Legion, said the idea of taking SSDI away from veterans receiving disability payments "has been floated before and thankfully defeated every time.
"Why would anyone want to take away disability benefits veterans have already paid for, simply because they have earned additional benefits through their honorable service in the military?"
The American Legion has consistently opposed any attempts by Congress to reduce or eliminate veterans benefits. It considers such benefits as earned and has urged the federal government to find other methods to reduce its expanding budget.
The Legion stands by the sentiments expressed long ago by George Washington: "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation."
"Of all the items in our federal budget that could be drastically cut, or dispensed with altogether, why would a member of Congress think it might be a good idea to take benefits away from those people who protect the very freedoms they operate under?" Foster said.
Foster said he agreed that Congress needs to take decisive action in reducing the federal budget, "but we must be mindful of the sacrifices borne by the men and women who have served and sacrificed in America's armed forces."
GOP blocks veterans jobs bill with budget vote
By Ramsey Cox
Senate Republicans stopped the veterans jobs bill Wednesday by forcing a budget point of order vote.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (R-Ill.) requested a motion to waive the budget point of order, which was raised by Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). Democrats needed 60 votes, but got only 58.
“This violates the Budget Control Act, there is no dispute about it,” Sessions said in a floor speech Wednesday. “The bill will not even go through the House and it violates the Constitution because it says revenue bills must be started in the House ... [and] this is a revenue bill.”
The Veterans Jobs Corp Act would have created new job-training programs to help veterans find work in targeted fields such as national park conservation, historic preservation projects, police work and firefighting, among others.
Sens. Scott Brown (Mass.), Susan Collins (Maine), Dean Heller (Nev.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Olympia Snowe (Maine) were the only Republicans who voted for the waiver, in a 58-40 vote.
“It’s clear that commonsense bipartisan legislation is being thwarted in this chamber over politics,” said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who sponsored the bill.
The $1 billion bill was to have paid for itself with new revenue over 10 years. Republican senators say the bill allows for more spending at the Veterans Administration than what was agreed to in the Budget Control Act, which is why they raised a point of order.
“This point of order puts a price on what we are willing to provide our veterans and it says ‘not a penny more,’ ” Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said before the vote. “It’s a point of order that will not only kill our ability to pass this bill, but that could also affect nearly every effort we make to improve the lives of veterans going forward.”
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) said these types of pay-go bills are part of the problem of the growing national debt.
“The question in my mind is, will we at some point in the future recognize the hole we’re in,” Coburn said on the floor Wednesday. “When we find ourselves in $16 trillion of debt and we pay for a five-year bill over 10 years, we make the problem worse.”
S. 3457 has been returned to the calendar, leaving H.J.Res. 117, the six-month spending resolution passed by the House last week, as the only business left in the Senate before election recess. That vote on the motion to proceed to the resolution is expected shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday.
If the waiver had gotten enough votes, the Senate would have proceeded to a vote on the motion to end debate on an amendment by Murray. Her substitute included provisions by Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.).
“At every turn, we have sought compromise. But instead of meeting us halfway, we have been met with resistance,” Murray said. “Instead of saying yes to the nearly one million unemployed veterans, it seems some on the other side have spent the last week and a half seeking out any way to say no.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/09/23/senate-gop-obstructionists-throw-veterans-under-the-bus-vote-down-bill-to-help-vets-in-need-of-jobs/2/ (Forbes, the guy who wrote the Communist Manifesto)
Senate GOP Obstructionists Throw Veterans Under The Bus-Vote Down Bill To Help Vets In Need Of Jobs
Logo of the Veterans' Employment and Training ...
For those who continue to believe that obstructionism at any cost is not the goal of the Senate Republicans, consider the behavior of the GOP Senators who, on Friday, blocked a bi-partisan effort to pass a bill that would put veterans to work in jobs that look after the nation’s federal land while also giving our fighting men and women a leg up when it comes to getting them hired by local police and fire departments.
The legislation would have provided a relatively small allocation of $1 billion in funds to accomplish the goals of the program.
In order to bring the bill to the floor, a procedural vote was required to waive a technical limit placed on such spending as agreed to in Congress during last year’s budgetary fiasco. Despite the sum of money having been fully offset by cuts and modifications to other planned expenditures, Senate Republicans used the required vote to shoot down the proposed legislation as the Democrats, with some Republican assistance, were able to manage only 58 of the 60 votes required to accomplish the waiver.
Commenting on the loss, Senate Veterans’ Affairs Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Washington) confirmed that the cost of the bill—which was to be spent over a five-year period—had been fully offset, thereby adding nothing to the deficit as a result of the effort. But even the offset could not overcome the votes of the Republican Senators who would so willingly play politics to the profound detriment of those to whom we owe the most.
“A vote to support this point of order says that despite the fact that we have paid for this bill, despite the fact that one in four young veterans are out of work, despite the fact that veterans suicides are outpacing combat deaths, and despite the fact that more and more veterans are coming home, we are not going to invest in these challenges,” Murray said.
It was not just the Senate Democrats left stunned by the callous and ungrateful behavior of their peers.
GOP Senators Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins and Oympia Snow of Maine, and Dean Heller of Nevada joined with the opposition in the effort to provide our veterans with a bit of help.
While Senator Heller indicated that he was proud to support the bill, noting “After everything our veterans have done for us, the least we can do is make sure they are afforded every opportunity to thrive here at home”, GOP Senator Tom Coburn provided the rationale for those who were in opposition—
“We ought to do nothing now that makes the problem worse for our kids and grandkids,”
Apparently, while Senator Coburn is consumed with worry over how a $1 billion spending bill might impact on our children and grandchildren somewhere down the road, the Senator—along with his unappreciative cohorts in the Senate—was unable to generate much concern for the more present and immediate impact their votes have on the children of our veterans who go off to risk their lives for their country and return unable to gain employment. One is additionally left to ponder what those veterans who did not make it home—leaving their children to live with the most immediate and tragic consequences—would think about Senator Coburn’s priorities.
So, allow me —just this once—to speak on behalf of my grandchild as I’m convinced she would say it herself were she not just shy of 3 years old.
Go ahead and spend the money, Senator Coburn. My grandchild will gladly risk the exposure to whatever debt you believe she may inherit from this $1 billion expenditure and will do so willingly and proudly if it will help someone’s mommy or daddy, who recently returned from risking his or her life in Afghanistan for my granddaughter’s country, to get a job.
I think we all understand that we are in the heat of an election year and that Republicans want to do all they can to deny the President re-election. Fine. That’s politics.
But how does even the most dedicated Republican live with the knowledge that their party’s top elected officials can so easily cast a vote to send an American solider off to war, only to refuse a comparatively small sum of money to help that veteran get his or her life back in they event they actually make it home?
With 720,000 unemployed veterans of foreign wars in the United States—220,000 of whom have served since the events of September 11, 2001—it is clear that we cannot count on these elected officials to do the right thing.
So, my suggestion and reminder is that you do the job yourself. Hire a veteran…and then hire another one.
If these shameful chuckleheads—and let’s be clear that I speak of Republican elected officials— cannot muster the decency to take responsibility and do what should be done, we’re just going to have to find a way to do the job for them.
UPDATE: A Twitter friend notes that Republican Senators Mike Johanns from Nebraska, Richard Burr from North Carolina, Pat Toomey from Pennsylvania, and John Boozman from Arkansas actually co-wrote this piece of legislation to help our veterans only to turn around and vote to kill it. Just following orders, I suppose, and doing what is required…putting the Republican Party first.
Contact Rick at
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