Wonder if it ever gets tiring of being in congress with nothing to do

UPDATE

Gallup Poll on Congress

Pretty much sums up what folks have been saying for a very long time!

Wonder if it ever gets tiring of being in congress with nothing to do? After all, it must get really boring getting up every now and then to make a speech about something they have no clue on. It happens all the time.

John McCain is a typical example of what has been going on in Washington. His track record on veterans issues has been AWOL and for an-ex POW constantly reminding folks he was one, he is a lot better at pretending to care than most.

The trouble is, how he really feels always seems to show up in what he says on top of the votes he casts against bills to make veterans lives better.

Back in 2010 there was a suicide prevention bill by Congressman Holt and McCain was in the hot seat over blocking the bill. McCain called it “overreach” and said that “Maybe you need this in New Jersey but we don’t need this in Arizona.” and folks were reminded about this when Congressman Holt went on talks shows like Lawrence O'Donnell The Last Word on MSNBC talked to Congressman Holt about this bill. Holt said that McCain called it “overreach” and said that “Maybe you need this in New Jersey but we don’t need this in Arizona.”

Huffington Post article by Amanda Terkel also tried to get people to just open their eyes about what was really going on.

In April, Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) introduced legislation named after the late soldier meant to provide more resources for suicide prevention to Reserve members. The House in May incorporated it into the National Defense Authorization Act for 2011, but it was stripped from the final version, and Holt is pointing the finger at the lead Republican negotiator on the Senate legislation, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

“Twice now, the Senate has stripped this legislation from our defense bill,” Holt told The Huffington Post Tuesday. “It’s hard to understand why. I know for a fact, because he told me, that Sen. McCain doesn’t support it. Whether he’s the only one, I don’t know. But there was no effort to try to improve the language or negotiate changes; it was just rejected, and I think that is not only bad policy, but it’s cruel. It’s cruel to the families that are struggling with catastrophic mental health problems.”

“He [McCain] said having these counselors check in with the Reservists every few months this way overreaching,” continued Holt, relaying a phone conversation he had had with the senator. “I asked him in what sense it was overreaching. Surely he didn’t think there wasn’t a problem, did he? I must say I don’t understand it.”

People paying attention to all this knew they sure needed it in Oregon when the suicide prevention hotline rescued 5 veterans in just two hours.

In 2013 John McCain was proven totally wrong when this report came out about what Arizona actually did need but McCain said was not needed in Arizona.

"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."

Then all of us heard McCain complain about the VA and the backlog and how veterans shouldn't have to go through any of it. This was happening in Arizona right under McCain's clueless nose in 2012.

VA backlog: Number of veterans in Arizona: 600,000
Number of pending veterans disability claims: 23,000
Number of claims with a wait time over 125 days: 17,000
Average number of days a claim is pending: 320
Average number of days a claim takes to complete: 365
Sources: Phoenix Veterans Affairs Regional Office and Arizona Department of Veterans Services

McCain had no right to pretend to be shocked instead of offering his apologies to all the veterans he let suffer instead of doing something when they had the chance. The shannagaines keep them really busy but caring about the veterans isn't even on their list of committees to show up at. Oh, sorry but I forgot. McCain never served on the Veterans Affairs Committee.

Right now a grand game is being played once again as people elected to do their jobs think that job is complaining about everything instead of fixing anything.