Republicans sink to new low and in the polls too

3.8 million veterans are disabled and face the prospect of not getting our checks next month because of a few in the House not willing to do the right thing. They wanted to just take care of veterans as if nothing else matters to us. I keep wondering what else will they screw up the next time if they are allowed to pull off a stunt like this.

Republican Party's Rating Plummets To 'Record Low' in approval because they have sunk to a new low ready to destroy the whole country without being able to explain why.  First they said it was over the Affordable Care Act that was settled and resettled and has already started.  Now they don't seem to know what they hell they are tying everything up for again.  Isn't it their job to figure out the budget, like it was for the last three years?

So here I am sitting here wondering what we'll do next month when I thought we would never have to worry again after a six year battle to have my husband's claim approved when no one was talking about PTSD or the backlog of claims. That justice came for us in 1999 and I remember what it was like to hang onto the belief this country would do the right thing. When you consider that disabled veterans are just a bit above 1% of the population, it seems even worse that we have to keep worrying over and over again but we don't just worry about ourselves. We worry about the whole nation. This same nation my husband was willing to risk his life for in Vietnam and ready to die for the others he was sent with.

He has paid the price and so has every other veteran but members of Congress want to use us like pawns in their games. This isn't new but it is about as nasty as it has ever been.

Consider one more thing. There is a part of their party slamming public servants as if they mean nothing but we don't want to talk about the thousands of veterans working for the government. We don't want to talk about the rest of what VA Secretary Shinseki had to say to Congress today and reported on NPR.

About 3.8 million veterans will not receive disability compensation next month if the partial government shutdown continues into late October, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told lawmakers Wednesday. Some 315,000 veterans and 202,000 surviving spouses and dependents will see pension payments stopped.

Shinseki spelled out some of the dire consequences of a longer-term shutdown in testimony before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. Short term, there's been a delay in processing claims by an average of about 1,400 per day since the shutdown began Oct. 1. That has stalled the department's efforts to reduce the backlog of disability claims pending for longer than 125 days.

In all, more than $6 billion in benefits to about 5 million veterans and their families would be halted with an extended shutdown.

In some areas, like health care, there have been few adverse effects. Health care services are funded a year in advance. In others, such as reducing the claims backlog, Shinseki noted that the backlog has increased by 2,000 since the shutdown began Oct. 1.

By comparison, the disability claims backlog had dropped about 31 percent during the six months preceding the shutdown, falling to 418,500.

He said the Labor Department has largely shut down its VETS program, which provides employment and counseling services to veterans. The Small Business Administration has closed 10 centers focused on helping veterans create and operate businesses. And the Housing and Urban Development Department is not issuing vouchers to newly homeless vets, though those already receiving the housing aid will still get it.

What did Congressman Miller want to talk about? Everything else. Kind of the way he's been behaving all along with sticking his fingers in his ears when the cries of thousands of families have begged for the Congress to hold someone accountable and actually do something about military and veterans committing suicides instead of just spending more money on what has already failed all of them.

I have faith in the American people but not much left for the politicians in charge of quicksand.

UPDATE add this to the above

Some 555 vet benefits administration employees go without pay
Shutdown » Services curtailed but not halted in most benefits cases.
By Dan Harrie
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Oct 08 2013

Salt Lake City’s Veterans Benefits Administration office was one of the regional vet centers affected by the federal shutdown, with 7,000 employees furloughed nationwide.

About 165 employees were sent home without pay in Salt Lake City, while 390 remained on duty without pay, said Shaun Shenk, spokesman with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Denver.