Democrats Greedily Blocking Healthcare for our Returning Veterans

When reading the following consider the words of Theodore Roosevelt: "A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards."
by Rachel Alexander, Opinions Editorials: The Democrats in Congress did a sneaky thing to try and force massive spending increases for social welfare programs and government education through – they included them in a bill that provided funding for veterans’ healthcare. Instead of including all funding for veterans’ healthcare in a defense appropriations bill, Democrats put part of the authorization for funds for veterans’ healthcare in a $606 billion dollar domestic spending bill that contained more than 2,000 pork earmarks, including a sailing school taught aboard a catamaran, a prison museum, a Portugese language program, $665 million in sheer giveaways to private community organizations, and $225 million for community health centers, something that is already well-served by the private sector.

The bill would have increased spending for social services and government education by more than $10 billion . . . Consequently, Bush was forced to veto this spending monstrosity until a compromise could be made to allow the veterans’ healthcare provisions to pass. Democrats . . . have used the opportunity to blame Bush for blocking veterans’ healthcare provisions. This is a transparent attempt at fooling the voters, considering the Democrats' tradition of advocating for reductions to all things military while Republicans have consistently asked for more support for our troops.

This is despicable considering that our wounded veterans are this country’s greatest heroes. Whether one agrees with the war or not, individual patriotic Americans who signed up to serve our country, putting their lives in jeopardy, should not be blamed. Since the war in Iraq began in 2003, over 60,000 troops have returned with physical injuries or mental health problems. . . . According to CBS, over 120 veterans per week across the U.S. committed suicide in 2005, a total of 6,256 that year.

. . . Our troops who return from Iraq unable to work requiring disability income are encountering bureaucratic delays, no doubt caused by government giving priority to other interest groups over our veterans. . . . according to the American Journal of Public Health, more than one million of our vets have no insurance or access to VA medical care. Unlike illegal immigrants, veterans are screened out from healthcare coverage by income, number of dependents, and the nature of their condition. This is a direct result of Democrats prioritizing medical care for illegal immigrants and designating the medical care of our vets to second-rate citizen status instead, ironically.

Democrats are playing similar games with providing adequate funding for our troops who are still in Iraq. They’ve tacked a “cut-and-run” withdrawal deadline onto a defense bill authorizing continuing funds for our troops in Iraq. They won’t authorize necessary supplies, ammunition, and basic living expenses for our troops unless a deadline for withdrawal is included in the bill. By cutting funds for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and setting a timeline to leave, Democrats are sending a clear message to our enemies that we are giving up. Democrats are gambling on the risky chance that the terrorists will never make a major attack on the U.S. again. Which party do you feel safer with? If you serve your country, which party do you think will consistently value that service? . . . [Full Article]

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Tags: Christian Values, Congressional Pork, Democrats, federal funding, military funding, military troops, veterans, veto To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!