Masterful Jokers We Call Our Leaders

Joke of the Week: Send Veterans Into System Congress Voted to Kill Off?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 5, 2015

Today was one of those days when I just wanted to chill out for a while. I was playing solitaire on my tablet when it dawned on me there are no jokers. I started laughing about not playing with a full deck. That's when it hit me how many politicians aren't playing with one or even pretending anymore.

Just this week the Senate voted to kill the Affordable Care Act. Basically wasted their time since they didn't have enough votes to avoid a veto.

By voting to nullify Obamacare -- the signature domestic accomplishment of the Obama administration -- GOP congressional leaders fulfilled a longtime pledge to voters and rank-and-file members to get a repeal to President Barack Obama's desk, even though he will veto it.

And then we have Mitch McConnell

"Middle class Americans continue to call on Washington to build a bridge away from Obamacare. They want better care. They want real health reform," argued Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. "

Yet the same folks saying privatizing the VA makes sense to them? First they have been trying to get rid of medical care for average folks instead of trying to fix what is wrong with what they call "Obamacare" willingly subjecting Americans to suffer with worse conditions than they had before. They top that off with saying that sending veterans into all that mess is a good idea?

Why Veterans Groups Are Worried About Privatization Of The VA

Top Republicans’ growing support for privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system is frightening some veterans groups. These veterans advocates acknowledge the urgency of reform at the notoriously backlogged and scandal-ridden VA. But they do not believe private insurance or medical care is capable of accommodating veterans’ specific needs, and maintain that a voucher program for purchasing care outside the VA system will inevitably fall short of veterans' expenses.

New poll results may give these organizations additional political leverage. Nearly two-thirds of veterans oppose “privatizing VA hospitals and services,” according to a poll released Tuesday by the Vet Voice Foundation. And some 80 percent of the veterans surveyed believe veterans “deserve their health care to be fully paid for, not vouchers which may not cover all the costs.”

Veterans are not stupid and they are willing to sacrifice anymore for politicians sending them to fight wars and then forcing them to fight for care afterwards because none of politicians planned for wounded survivors to become disabled veterans.

None of this is new. They have had to fight for care since the Revolutionary War. Politicians avoid mentioning the simple fact they also control the funding for the VA plus write all the bills and rules the VA has to follow. In other words, they have had jurisdiction over the VA since 1946 but blame everyone else for not taking care of veterans.

Nice little trick played by masterful jokers we call our leaders.

History and Jurisdiction

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives was authorized by enactment of Public Law 601, 79th Congress, which was entitled "Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946." Section 121(a) of this Act provides: "there shall be elected by the House at the commencement of each Congress the following standing committees": Nineteen Committees are listed and No. 18 quotes: "Committee on Veterans' Affairs, to consist of 27 Members." This Act has since been amended so that there are now 22 Standing Committees in the House of Representatives. The number of Members (Representatives) authorized to serve on each Committee has been changed from time to time. There are currently 29 members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs is the authorizing Committee for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Committee recommends legislation expanding, curtailing, or fine-tuning existing laws relating to veterans' benefits. The Committee also has oversight responsibility, which means monitoring and evaluating the operations of the VA. If the Committee finds the that VA is not administering laws as Congress intended, then it is "corrected" through the hearing process and legislation. We are the voice of Congress for veterans in dealings with the VA.

Legislation Within the Jurisdiction of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

1. Veterans' measures generally.
2. Pensions of all the wars of the U.S., general and special.
3. Life insurance issued by the government on account of service in the Armed Forces.
4. Compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and education of veterans.
5. Veterans' hospitals, medical care, and treatment of veterans.
6. Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief.
7. Readjustment of servicemen to civilian life.
8. National Cemeteries.

Complete Jurisdiction of the Committee