John McCain takes first steps in killing the VA

Desperate times call for desperate men to take advantage of the situation instead of actually measuring what they need to do.

Take John McCain's sudden interest in the VA. Sudden? Yes, since he never sat on the Veterans Affairs Committee and still doesn't.

Senator John McCain is a member and former Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Armed Services; Member and former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs; Member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; Member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Armed Services
The Senate Committee on Armed Services is composed of 25 Senators. This Committee has jurisdiction for aeronautical and space activities peculiar to or primarily associated with the development of weapons systems or military operations; the common defense; the Department of Defense, the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force, generally; maintenance and operation of the Panama Canal, including administration, sanitation, and government of the Canal Zone; military research and development; national security aspects of nuclear energy; naval petroleum reserves, except those in Alaska; pay, promotion, retirement, and other benefits and privileges of members of the Armed Forces, including overseas education of civilian and military dependents; selective service system; and strategic and critical materials necessary for the common defense.

Senator McCain served as Ranking Member of the Committee from 2006 to 2012.

Really strange when you consider on the rise in military suicides his voice could shatter glass if he sang when he hit it with a sledgehammer. But suddenly he seems to have all the answers. OK? Huh?

This is what John McCain had to say on problems in the VA back in 2008 when he wanted to become the man in charge.

Does John McCain know he is being taped?

Stars and Stripes' interview with Sen. John McCain
By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes online edition, Monday, August 11, 2008

Q: The backlog in the VA system is still very sizeable and a concern to even many of the younger guys. I don’t know how you’re looking at the issue, and how you fix something that the current administration has really struggled with.

I think the best thing we could possibly do is focus military medical care and the VA on treating the wounds directly related to combat: PTSD, combat wounds which they are uniquely qualified, through years of experience, to address.

I think in the case of veterans that have ordinary health care needs, routine health care needs, we should do everything we can to give them a card that they can take to the health care provider or doctor of their choice to get health care immediately.

Q: I know there has been a push by the current administration to take those healthier veterans and have them pay to help support the system, even a small, nominal fee. I don’t know if that’s something that you’d support.

First I think we’ve got to make sure that veterans receive the care, and then we have to worry about if there’s any necessary changes. I’m unalterably opposed to telling future generations of Americans that we’re not going to give them the health care they need in service for our country.

That means that I would be very reluctant, I would be opposed to imposing more financial costs.

Now McCain just may get his way on the start of privatizing the VA and getting veterans out of the care they were promised.

In September of 2013 this report came out "Veterans committing suicide at twice the rate of civilians" and Arizona was in the news.

"The rate of suicide among military veterans in Arizona is more than double the civilian rate Advocates say veterans need more than benefits when returning from war. The average veteran suicide rate in Arizona from 2005 through 2011 is almost 43 deaths per 100,000 people. That’s according to data compiled by News21, a national reporting project based out of Arizona State University. And the rate should increase as more veterans return home."

Well his view on military suicides was for veterans to learn to take better responsibility for themselves. This was when he was running for the nomination in 2008 in a letter sent to the NAMI convention. McCain also blocked a suicide prevention bill calling it "overreach."

A month later Vietnam Veteran with cancer left of the street to die because he was a homeless veteran in Arizona.

On Merchant Marines McCain wouldn't sign a bill for these WWII veterans. Now all these years later, the few Merchant Marine war veterans still alive would like to see Senate Bill S961 passed. The House of Representatives passed the bill in 2007. Our two Arizona senators, Jon Kyl and John McCain, have not signed on even though 57 other senators have.

Women in combat if you look at the link, you can read what he must have not known about.

In the 1991 debate over women pilots, McCain took a traditionalist stance. "This nation has existed for over 215 years," McCain said. "At no time in the history of our nation have women been in combat roles."

It is hard to keep track on how much he has been wrong on. Look up his record online and discover what you've missed all these years. As for me, I need a good stiff drink right now.