Veterans Suffered and Died While Boehner and McCain Tried to Kill the VA

Every member of Congress needs to face veterans in their districts and explain why the VA is still such a mess, especially when the facts prove, they just don't really care.

Start with the veterans in Ohio and how Speaker of the House John Boehner decided it would be better for veterans to kill the VA and let them face for profit corporations. After all, there are no waiting lines in regular hospitals and no long waits to see a specialist. Sure everything is perfect in the world civilians live in.

It seems Boehner has been trying to do exactly that and is no longer ashamed to admit it.

The Columbus Dispatch reported this May 24, 2014 when everyone was trying to blame the mess in the VA on Eric Shinseki, including Boehner pointing his finger at him so no one would remember how long the horror stories had been coming out or how long veterans had been hearing promises at the same time this man was doing all in his power to destroy the VA.

Privatizing VA still appeals to Boehner

WASHINGTON — More than two decades ago, House Speaker John Boehner said, he floated an idea that was controversial: Why not privatize the Department of Veterans Affairs?

The idea was soundly rejected by veterans’ organizations.

Now, in the midst of a sweeping scandal over allegations that government officials falsified reports on how long veterans were waiting for medical treatment, Boehner said yesterday that the idea still has merit.
“I still like the idea, and especially now,” he said.

There were a lot of reports last year that made it seem as if all these problem were new and no one had any clue how bad things were. The trouble is, Congress Collective Amnesia on Veterans Affairs has a long list of all the years they knew exactly what was going on.

This isn't about Democrats or Republicans, since both parties managed to fail veterans over and over again, then pretend they had nothing to do with any of it for decades. It is all about Congress and blindsiding veterans. They actually think they can tell us they care at the same time they screw things up on purpose and hope we just didn't notice.

Boehner isn't the only one trying to destroy the VA.

Senator John McCain shocked veterans last year calling for it too, but it was the same thing he said when he was running for the Presidency. We have to go all the way back years to see what he really felt about the VA and the Huffington Post still has up a fabulous list of what McCain was against doing for veterans. He hasn't been so great for the troops either but that is another part of the story on the article.

This one is the best of all when it comes to his desire to kill the VA.

Disabled American Veterans Legislative Director Said That McCain's Proposal Would Increase Costs For Veterans Because His Plan Relies On Private Hospitals Which Are More Expensive and Which Could Also Lead To Further Rationing Of Care. "To help veterans who live far from VA hospitals or need specialized care the VA can't provide, McCain proposed giving low-income veterans and those who incurred injury during their service a card they could use at private hospitals. The proposal is not an attempt to privatize the VA, as critics have alleged, but rather, an effort to improve care and access to it, he said. Joe Violanti, legislative director of the Disabled American Veterans, a nonpartisan organization, said the proposal would increase costs because private hospitals are more expensive. The increased cost could lead to further rationing of care, he said." (Las Vegas Sun, 8/10/08)

These were also and the list and I found them very interesting considering that my husband's claim was filed in 1993 and was not approved until 1999. Yep, we had to fight 6 years back then. Imagine how I feel about all this still going on at the VA because members of congress never really gave a crap.

McCain Voted Against Providing Automatic Cost-of-Living Adjustments to Veterans. McCain voted against providing automatic annual cost-of-living adjustments for certain veterans' benefits. (S. 869, Vote 259, 11/20/91)

McCain Voted to Underfund Department of Veterans Affairs. McCain voted for an appropriations bill that underfunded the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development by $8.9 billion. (H.R. 2099, Vote 470, 9/27/95)

McCain Voted Against a $13 Billion Increase in Funding for Veterans Programs. McCain voted against an amendment to increase spending on veterans programs by $13 billion. (S.C.R. 57, Vote 115, 5/16/96) McCain Voted Against $44.3 Billion for Veterans Programs. McCain was one of five senators to vote against a bill providing $44.3 billion for the Department of Veterans Affairs, plus funding for other federal agencies. (H.R. 2684, Vote 328, 10/15/99)

There are a lot more reports on many different people we elected to lie to us. It's all political bullshit as the facts have shown yet this is what CBS news let stand when they did the report on McCain's thoughts in 2014

"Unfortunately, as this scandal at the VA escalated for nearly two months, President Obama was nowhere to be seen," McCain wrote. "There were expressions of anger through presidential proxies, but nothing from the commander in chief himself. And when the president finally did speak about the crisis on Wednesday, there was only a recitation of talking points, expressions of confidence in the system, without a real sense of emotion and urgency."

The GAO came out with a report that there is no accountability with the VA claims process. This didn't just happen. The report came out in 2008.

They were right but things didn't change much by 2014 when FOX news reported on Milton Rachham, a WWII veteran fighting for his claim to be honored for 68 years. He wasn't alone. In 2008 there were many reports of older veterans seeking help from the VA for the first time.

As World War II veterans have aged, and reflected on the dreadful experiences of war and carnage, more and more exhibited the symptoms of a malady unheard of when they went off to battle 65 years ago: post traumatic stress disorder.

The only way these people can pull this off is to make sure the VA is as bad as it can be and destroy it. After all, how can their rich buddies make more money when the VA is still taking care of veterans? Guess they didn't stop to think about all the veterans and families suffering and dying in the process while they play deaf, dumb and blind hoping we didn't notice any of this.

Carol Shea-Porter distorts Frank Guinta's voting record on veterans

From Politifact

Carol Shea-Porter distorts Frank Guinta's voting record on veterans programs

Veterans funding was back in the news recently as the U.S. Senate failed to take up a new veterans jobs bill. But, even before the vote, one New Hampshire congressional candidate was already taking aim over the issue.

In a television ad, released Sept. 18 in and around New Hampshire, former Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, who is once again challenging U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta, charged her opponent with failing to support the country’s veterans.

"Tea Party Congressman Frank Guinta voted for billions in cuts to veterans programs," a narrator declares in the ad, "Debt,’ aired on WMUR-TV.

"I’m Carol Shea-Porter and I approve this message because our veterans deserve better," she said to conclude the ad.

Guinta, a freshman Republican, immediately disputed the ad and organized a rally in Manchester to call attention to his "strong record of supporting our veterans."

So, who’s right? We decided to check the records.
read it here

John Boehner wanted to cut VA bill that just passed House

For veterans bill, Republicans put budget ax aside
By ANDREW TAYLOR (AP)

WASHINGTON — House Republicans who have spent months demanding spending cuts blanched Wednesday at their first opportunity to actually make them, instead joining Democrats in treating a bill to pay for veterans programs in 2011 as politically sacrosanct in an election year.

The veterans measure is the first of a dozen spending bills for the upcoming 2011 budget year to come up for a vote. Democrats, meanwhile, were doing some ducking and weaving of their own to avoid time-consuming floor debates and politically difficult votes on other measures.

It's of little surprise that Democrats picked the Veterans Affairs bill as the first in the appropriations pile to bring to a vote. It passed by a 411-6 vote.

Only a handful of others are likely to get as far before the November election, even though all 12 are supposed to pass both the House and Senate and be signed by the president before Oct. 1. Last year at this time, the House had passed all 12 bills.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, offered the only amendments to cut the veterans bill but withdrew them as soon as Democrats started making political hay out of them.

Boehner wanted to cut the Veterans Affairs Department's rapidly growing policy office as well as its congressional lobbying operation and skim $45 million from the VA's $3.3 billion request for computer systems, which the agency itself admits was too high.
read more here
For veterans bill