So, now BO is outraged at what he's hearing in the media? He says he won't put up the poor treatment of our vets? Hmmmm http://www.nationalreview.com/campa...ble-conditions-some-va-hospitals-jim-geraghty Apparently, he believed, as far back as 2007, the VA was doing a lousy job....so he waits 7 years to express his outrage?
"Republicans Vote Against Increased VA Funding" "GOP Voted Against 7 Bills to Help Veterans" "Republicans block Senate bill to boost veterans' benefits" This is a consistent pattern, and the outrage of these phony "patriots" is cynically hypocritical--par for the course. Own it, asshats.
Except the budget has TRIPLED since 2000 - 44,818 in 2000 and 125,304 in 2012. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS22897.pdf
Well, the point you missed (imagine that, huh?) in the OP is that BO claimed the VA was a wreck way back in 2007. Now, 7 years later, he's "concerned" enough to look into it?
Well he was right back then and 7 years later the Republicans still control the money. The president can't allocate money. The Republicans can but haven't. Every time a war ends Republicans shaft the vets. They have a long history of this behavior. I predicted this years ago.
And then there is the bloviating Republican leadership hypocrites like Cantor. ‘Getting it straight’ on veterans’ care 05/22/14 08:00 AM facebook twitter 1 save share group 12 By Steve Benen The political world’s response to the VA scandal is still taking shape, but at this point, it’s off to an awkward start. For one thing, as Rachel explained on the show last night, much of the recent discussion has characterized chronic problems in providing veterans with the care they need as a new development, which it is not. What’s more, Jonathan Capehart did a nice job highlighting the awkwardness of Republican rhetoric on the matter. In the very real scandal engulfing the department of veterans affairs and the White House, the moralizing and scapegoating by the Republican House majority is too much to take. “It is time for our president to come forward and take responsibility for this and do the right thing by these veterans and begin to show that he actually cares about getting it straight,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) yesterday.Yes, President Obama and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki have a lot to answer for since the buck ultimately stops with them. And the president acknowledged his responsibility during his remarks from the press briefing room today. Yet, Cantor’s comments are galling when you consider what Congress has and hasn’t done for veterans.Even at face value, it’s disappointing that the Majority Leader didn’t acknowledge that the problems at the VA span multiple administrations over many years. For that matter, Cantor’s complaint made no effort to suggest a solution or express an eagerness to work with the White House on solving the problem. But let’s also “get it straight” when it comes to the parties’ record, not just their rhetoric, on veterans’ issues. In February, Senate Democrats pushed legislation to expand VA health care access, tuition assistance, and job training. Senate Republicans killed the legislation. Around the same time, GOP lawmakers voted to slash food stamps, despite warnings about the cuts’ impact on veterans and their families. Republicans also cut off extended unemployment benefits, which also adversely affected roughly 200,000 veterans. Wait, it gets worse. Alec MacGillis added that the Republican “hypocrisy” on veterans “is truly something to behold.” If there’s been one side pushing for greater resources for the Veterans Administration in the age of austerity these past five years, it hasn’t been the Republicans. It was the much-maligned economic stimulus package of 2009 that included $1 billion for the V.A. While the V.A. itself was protected from the budget sequestration that Republican fought to keep in place last year, many other veterans programs – providing mental health services and housing, among other things – were hit hard by the sequestration cuts. […]But there is a whole other level of context to consider here as well. There is a pretty basic reason for backlogs at V.A. facilities and in the disability claims process, the other ongoing V.A. mess. Put simply: when you go to war, you get more wounded veterans, and in a country without a universal health care system, they are all funneled into this one agency with limited capacity. Every one of the Republican leaders quoted above attacking Obama for the V.A. backlogs strongly supported launching the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that resulted in nearly 7,000 fatalities and a huge surge in medical needs and disability claims.Anyone who fails to recognize the seriousness of the VA scandal is blind to a painful reality. But before President Obama’s conservative critics treat the controversy as their new partisan toy, it’s worth considering whether their rhetoric matches their record. “Getting it straight,” to use Cantor’s phrase, is important.
"White House Press Secretary Jay Carney responded Monday, saying the president had identified problems with the agency as a candidate and pledged to take action to improve the services for veterans. "What you have seen since he took office is just that," Carney said, noting that the president "asked for and received from Congress significant increases in the Veterans Affairs budget." A report on the agency's budget history shows it grew by more than $20 billion during Mr. Obama's first two years in office."- CBS Hmmmm
I just heard on the news the the Obama administrations AGAIN did not send the persons subpoenaed by the Committee on Veterans' Affairs to their meeting TODAY and has not submitted the subpoenaed documents.
Have any of you idiots on the Right taken into consideration that the number of vets, specially those with PDSD and severe injuries, have increased thanks to the Bush/Cheney foreign policy disasters of the last 10 years? The VA is a fine enough system but as predicted, the costs of the Bush/Cheney foreign policy disaster were going to cost this country trillions down the road. Now of course we have the same Republicans that were gun-ho to go to war not wanting to fund the care for those same vets that they sent to war so willingly. Republicans are a national embarrassment. Money has increased for the VA but not nearly enough to cover all the vets now in the system. But keep looking at simple numbers and thinking that is the whole story. It is completely in line with your poor understanding of pretty much every situation.
No, it is Republican's fault, Bush/Cheney merely played their parts. In other words, they provided the bodies while Republicans deny the funding. Just like when Republicans cut the State Department's security budgets and we had Benghazi. Cause and effect. The real problem is Republican's taking responsibility for their own role. They are far better at blaming than owning up to their part. That's why they are soooooo... special.
BO was able to get Obamacare passed without a single Republican vote and less than unanimous Dim support. How could the Republicans have roadblocked BO on anything?
Let me repeat: BO was able to get Obamacare passed without a single Republican vote and less than unanimous Dim support. How could the Republicans have roadblocked BO on anything?
Simple. BO did not do anything to try to help. He was busy trying to screw up the economy passing Obamacare and playing golf.
And now the Democrats have blocked the authority to fix the situation. As of now, Shinseki can fire no one for not doing their job. So a Republican introduces a bill to allow the VA to fire those who are not performing their jobs. They could have passed the bill and made it law today, but the Democrats decided it had to go through committee etc before passage. i.e. it might make it by the end of the year. Meanwhile, how many more veterans will die before they wake up?
In the IOC speach today; Apparently, he is waiting for ANOTHER IG report. It seems he did not believe the first 3 (all since 2010). I am going to guess he has just been ignoring the previous reports.
I wonder why the conservatives weren't concerned about this seven years ago? Or are they only concerned about why Obama wasn't? Seems hypocritical.
