Congress No Longer Ashamed of What They Did to Veterans

Congress Pushing VA to Disaster
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
April 5, 2015

When I had more time and wasn't working a full time job plus doing this work, I wrote on Veterans Today. I was looking up a quote from John Boehner on privatizing the VA when I rediscovered a post I did way back in 2011. "Fix The VA Don't Break It"

It started with this.

"One of the biggest problems tracking reports across the country is that there are days when I get hit with more news than I can stand. It makes my head hurt to think of how far we’ve come, then get whacked with one bad news report after another."

Privatizing VA still appeals to Boehner reported by the Columbus Dispatch May 24, 2014. He said the idea seems to still be a good one. So how is it that the reporters didn't ask him what that really meant?

Decades? He has been pushing to privatize the VA for decades? Did it ever dawn on him that in the process of his goals it would mean that millions of disabled veterans would suffer? They have been pushing the VA to disaster all this time and hoped no one would notice.

The post I wrote ended with this.

"These problems are easy to ignore if they remain local issues but when you look at what is going on across the country, it is clear there is a huge problem. The VA has an obligation to provide care to our veterans no matter where they live. Fixing the VA is about taking care of all veterans now or tomorrow people wanting to privatize the VA will win and veterans will lose."

Here we are and the evidence is in that the Congress has been screwing veterans for decades and are no longer ashamed to admit it.

After all, the Congress is responsible for what happens. They pass all the bills and fund them. They also have an obligation to be the watchdogs over all the departments including the VA.

Legislation Within the Jurisdiction of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs


Veterans' measures generally.

Pensions of all the wars of the U.S., general and special.

Life insurance issued by the government on account of service in the Armed Forces.

Compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and education of veterans.

Veterans' hospitals, medical care, and treatment of veterans.

Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief.

Readjustment of servicemen to civilian life.

National Cemeteries.

How long have they had to get this right? Since 1946!

If they wanted to really take care of our veterans, they would have done it decades ago!