Obama Birth Control Rule Will Hurt Homeless Veterans, GOP Congressman Warns

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), a leading Republican congressman overseeing veterans issues, is warning that President Obama's decision on birth control will have far-reaching effects even on the seemingly unrelated issue of combating homelessness amongst veterans.

Miller is chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. On Monday, he sent out a press release on the president's FY '13 budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs, saying that upon "first glance," it "appears positive given today's constrained fiscal environment, which is a good step forward."

But, he added, Obama's decision not to exempt all religiously affiliated organizations from covering the cost of birth control for their employees may cause problems for veterans. It's not completely clear how the two are related, although he may be worried about what would happen to religiously affiliated groups that help homeless veterans and receive VA funding if they fail to comply with the new birth control rule.

"There are also obvious elephants in the VA budget, however," Miller said in his release. "VA's goal to eliminate veteran homelessness by 2015, while laudable, is now squarely in the sights of the administration's new contraceptive policy, pitting numerous faith-based institutions that provide shelter for our nation's veterans against their own moral beliefs. Without these institutions, our veterans will suffer the consequences of bad policy."

Miller's office declined to comment for this article.

Richard Allen Smith is vice chairman of VoteVets and an Afghanistan war veteran. He grew up in what is now Miller's district and criticized the congressman's attempts to tie contraception to the issue of homeless veterans.

"Chairman Miller is truly trying to shove a square peg into a round hole," said Smith. "How the White House compromise on contraception affects homeless veterans is beyond me. Whether or not any organization provides contraception coverage to female employees wouldn't affect their work for veterans. Chairman Miller can take whatever position he wants on the compromise, but to try to charge that the policy has any affect on veterans is pretty crass and clumsy politics."

The new rule on birth control stems from the Affordable Care Act. Most women employed in the U.S. will have the cost of their birth control covered with no co-pay, effective Aug. 1.

The rule exempted employers, including churches and other places of worship, whose primary purpose is imparting religious beliefs from covering contraception for their employees. But many religious groups argued the exemption was too narrow and should also apply to other religiously affiliated organizations. The Obama administration disagreed, but gave these employers an extra year to comply with the new law.

On Friday, the White House announced that it will be rolling out an "accommodation" to address the concerns of some religious groups. According to White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, religious institutions would still be required to cover contraception as part of any health care plan they offer to their employees. But they also will be offered a veritable opt-out clause. If they determine that the requirement violates their religious sensibilities, the burden would then fall on the insurance company to cover the cost.

Comments

[observer42]

10:39 AM on 03/08/2012

Pre Obama, I went with the Homeless Coalition to count the homeless. It was a government mandate. If we couldn't speak to the homeless person, manually count him/her and get a SS#, he didn't exist. Government Funds for the following six months would be allocated according to the people we found on Counting night. Counts are held in spring and fall so that the homeless will not be in the shelters where they are easy counts. When the weather is mild, they are out there being homeless. We went to the soup kitchen and the shelters. We went to known "homes" under bridges, inside bridge abutments, highway overpasses, camps on hillsides, abandoned buildings where they were KNOWN to stay. We found their bedding, their pet mice, their makeshift camps, but if we couldn't talk to them, they don't exist. And while a paranoid schizophrenic (or a PTSD vet) may take food and dry socks you leave behind, they may hide in the bush, watching you while you try to count them. The government would not accept the daily count of individuals served, or trust the faith based groups own count. I watched a Coalition worker cry when we came to the camp of a family with three children, and it was empty. No allotment for them this year. They are invisible.

[Nicola Durham]

06:54 AM on 03/08/2012

As usual the GOP doesn't know what they're talking about!!!!! As a veteran, I know most of our prescriptions, including birth control are covered by the VA.

[cwebster]

03:48 AM on 02/18/2012

Aside from the fact that all the people invalid are American, what possible connection is he seeing?? Maybe he needs to be drug tested?

[Fedelia]

03:28 PM on 02/15/2012

This is what it comes to, Rs?

Geez - I almost feel sorry for you.

[Larry Ness]

01:27 PM on 02/15/2012

His argument is perfectly consistent with the Republican understanding of government regulations. The premise is "All regulations destroy the regulated". When the government mandated seat belts back in the 60's, the car companies cried bloody murder that the added costs would keep people from buying cars. Every business since then has followed suit: "If you make us do that, we will have to lay off people and eventually close our doors" - no matter what the thing is that they are asked to do.

Why shouldn't the same logic apply to non-profits?

[BoshSpong]

12:21 PM on 02/15/2012

Let me get this straight, if a priest, Bishop, Cardinal etc. abuses a few young men, the Church sends him to rehab and all's well - but contraception is an "evil"?

After the continual list of errors like the persecution of Galileo (the Earth is in the center of the universe, otherwise the scriptures are mistaken and all is lost!), the inquisition, persecution and murder of protestants, political alliances with the powers that be to gain temporal power and $ - It would seem that the church would act with a bit of humility and recognize that it is again out of step with reality; alas, not so.

As we puzzle over the inane foolishness of many Catholic Church foibles, errors, and blatant mistakes it would seem the church would become a bit less proud and a little more humble, but I guess that's not the Christian way...

[ZeraLee]

05:56 AM on 02/15/2012

I don't know if I should:
A) comment on the increasing desperation of their fear mongering.
B) remark on the increasingly dubious sanity of their candidates.
C) reiterate the necessity of maintaining separation between church and state.
D) debate the relationship between liberty, the complexity of economic interaction, and population density.
E) stop laughing and wipe the coffee off my screen.

[Aurical]

09:19 PM on 02/14/2012

I wish instead of saying that these people were making "bold claims" they could just say they are lying instead. Why can't we just call a liar a liar?

[bjp4321]

04:21 PM on 02/14/2012

"Miller's office declined to comment for this article."

Of course he declined to comment for the article because he couldn't explain or prove the connection that he is trying to make. It is the most blatent appeal to the heart strings. This when the republicans have stated a number of times that the jobless and homeless are just lazy and don't deserve the government largess.
Now, Mr. Miller -- it seems to me that the republicans have been "flip-flopping" on their principles lately and showing their hypocricy. Supporting the payroll tax cut extensions while adding a surtax on the federal workers; but not the wealthy 1%, supporting government jobs by building infrastructure while giving away millions to big energy, supporting the homeless vets, but denying them contraceptives.

When will the republican party learn that it is too late to redeem yourselves. You had your chance to work to create jobs and you pissed it away by trying to take away workers rights, remove environmental protections, remove worker protections; while protecting the big business and pretending to care about the individual citizen businesses. You don't have me fooled.

[chubbybunny]

01:55 PM on 02/15/2012

Bravo! (That's me clapping with both hands!)

[KimberlyKay]

04:07 PM on 02/14/2012

Someone needs to introduce our House gop to logic. Just because grass is green, does not mean everything green is grass.

[MacQ]

03:45 PM on 02/14/2012

Well, the truth is that if the catholic church is forced by his mandate to restrict their activity to catholics only, there will a huge vaccuum in many social services....and maybe suddenly alot of new catholics.

[KimberlyKay]

04:08 PM on 02/14/2012

What? Your statement has no sense. FYI, most american catholics believe and use birth control.

[Aurical]

09:56 PM on 02/14/2012

98 percent. The church can't get it's own followers to obey their rules, but want EVERYONE to!

[bjp4321]

04:29 PM on 02/14/2012

Who are you trying to fool? Many of the Catholic charities, universities, high schools, grade schools already provide health insurance that covers contraceptives. Even though they are not mandated too.
"Twenty-eight states, including Oregon, mandate contraceptive coverage by employer-provided health plans. Eight of those state mandates include no exemption for religious institutions. In others, the exemption is narrow. Oregon, for instance, exempts “religious employers” whose purpose is “the inculcation of religious values.” To qualify for an exemption such employers must primarily employ people “who share the religious tenets of the employer,” and mainly serve people who subscribe to those tenets."
http://www.registerguard.com/web/opinion/27591884-47/contraception-mandate-religious-health-catholic.html.csp
The Catholic Church recieves Federal funds to help their charities as do other religious organizations. If they don't want to do provide the service; I am sure there are others out there who will gladly accept the federal funds to do so.

[RobbieB]

03:47 PM on 02/14/2012

All y'all lost on this one - the female and youth vote are now energized...

But you do touch on a good point about the makeup of the future population. Older social conservatives - especially in the Red States and often morbidly obese from church dinners - will be dying off in droves in the next few years. Fewer conservatives.

[KimberlyKay]

04:11 PM on 02/14/2012

Most of our older so-called conservative population has yet to recognize this gop is not their gop. Remember "keep govt. Hands off my medicare."

[SpeakupNation]

03:13 PM on 02/14/2012

Since when does the GOP care about the plight of homeless veterans? What a specious pile this argument! This Congressman ought to be ashamed...and he would be ashamed if a right winger were not genetically incapable of shame.

[TheCentury21Thinker]

03:05 PM on 02/14/2012

Obama has no authority to issue the Contraception rule, so he has not authority to amend it.
Has none of you people heard of the First amendment?

[webwzrd]

03:41 PM on 02/14/2012

Actually, he DOES. It's part of the Healthcare Act, which was passed by Congress. He has the same authority the 28 states that ALREADY have this law (some for decades) had. So, when does the actual thinking start?

[RobbieB]

03:49 PM on 02/14/2012

Proud new fan, wiz. Those silly facts - always in the way for the information-challenged on the right.

[KimberlyKay]

04:13 PM on 02/14/2012

The HHS Secretary had the authority from Congress and she used it. You see Congress passed a law just like they are supposed to do under our constitution. This is not constitutional law; it is labor law.

[rMatey]

02:58 PM on 02/14/2012

Stop giving those homeless vets Viagra.