Bush's Incredible Invisible Veto: Veterans Caught in the Middle Again

On December 28th, President Bush announced his plan to veto the defense authorization bill over an obscure provision regarding the new Iraqi government and the rights of prisoners of war. The White House is worried that Americans victimized by Saddam's former regime might use the legislation to secure compensation in court, jeopardizng Iraq's assets held in U.S. banks.

The veto took a lot of people by surprise, because normally the president lets Congress know in advance if legislation they are passing is likely to be vetoed. And there's controversy about the veto itself -- President Bush claims this is a pocket-veto, which the president can use when Congress is out of session, and which Congress cannot override. But Congress is not out of session, so Congressional leaders are considering efforts to override the veto.

That's right. The partisan divide is so wide now that Congress and the president can't even agree on the meaning of the word "veto." Unfortunately, while the politicians are playing word games, troops and veterans are missing out on:

• Better health care for veterans. As the law currently stands, Iraq vets lose access to VA health coverage two years after they get out of the military. Without the defense authorization bill, there's nothing to keep Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from joining the 1.8 million veterans without health insurance.

• Wartime Contracting Commission. A new "Truman Commission" to fight fraud and waste by military contractors.

• Pre- and Post- Deployment Assessment for Traumatic Brain Injury. Studies suggest 150-300,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have received this kind of injury. These kinds of injuries don't necessarily leave a visible wound, but they can seriously affect brain function, including memory and emotional response. Right now, many of these injuries are going undiagnosed and untreated.

• Expanded job protections for family members of severely wounded troops. Currently, if a husband or wife of a wounded troop at Walter Reed needs to take more than three months to care for their spouse, they can lose their job. This would have given them six months of job protection.

Add to that a new research and treatment center for PTSD & TBI, better education benefits for National Guardsmen and Reservists, and refugee assistance for Iraqi Interpreters.

All of this in limbo, thanks to this veto.

What happens next? Will Congress invoke the little-known "I'm rubber, you're glue" rule? Will the president respond by redefining "Congress"? Who knows. What is clear is that yet again, vital new programs for returning troops are going to be put on hold while Congress and the president play games.

Comments

[realitytrumpsbull]

If I send them in my honorable discharge papers, can they make a little hat out of it?


Good riddance. Nothing personal.

[fact finder]

When are you people going to learn. This is a government for corporatism, by corporatism and of corporatism. For those who dis agree, and I am sure there will be many, show me one congress person who is not eating at the pig trough of corporatism. Wake up we are just tools to be used and discarded when we have out lived our ability to make money for the so called elite.

[usna73]

This is once again unconscionable behavior on the part of the worst President and Commander-In-Chief that we have ever seen. His criminal right wing ideology needs to be stopped.

He vetoed S-Chip and now this.

Once again however he is planning to push for tax rebates and to tell us to "go shopping" in the State of the Union address. What an abysmal leader.

Please readers: you can donate cash, air mileage etc. to help the valiant wounded veterans through a number of orgs:

saluteheroes.org
woundedwarriorproject.org
fisherhouse.org

[Vajara]

The troops and vets are the least concern of this administration and of congress. If we didn't have some good watch dogs (and I love dogs, perhaps more than politicians) they would be left out of the loop entirely. Thanks, Paul. I don't know what the answer is, but we must get people like you in our government services to see where our priorities are and do the right thing for those who are always put in "harms way" for the wrong reasons and for the inability to form international relations and to make peace.

Thank you.

[scooperss]

bush doesn't give a damn about the soldiers fighting much less the wounded veterans. If anything he probably blames them for getting injured.

[skwan91607]

To stop any mistake from a decider one must make that fool not a decider any more.
Such decider wants to build a Middle East's peace while he mess up American world image and ruins American economy. The only thing he knows is bombs and bombs and bombs.
Dreaming himself as another decider an ex-POW wants to occupy other country for 100 years to show his senseless mentality.
For the sake of Checks and Balances American congress is a big joke.
This is America. Enjoy....!

[foreffectivegovernment]

When will people realize that American politics is not rocket science and that it can be boiled down to its fundamental elements?

The Republican Party promotes policies that support free enterprise and bless Corporations with limited Government oversight. This has shown to benefit some at the expense of the majority. The Democratic Party promotes policies that benefit everyone else by striving for efficient and caring Government.

Leaders of the Republican Party have to use controversial issues and promote candidates who profess to be "Compassionate" and "Conservative" to entice voters to vote against their own self interests. These candidates have recently been shown to be neither Compassionate nor Conservative. I am tired of being called a "Baby Killer" because Republicans have assigned that label to anyone who resists their failed policies of strong military, fiscal responsibility, and limited government.

Of course there are aspects involved that change from election to election, but the basics still hold true.

Those who vote "for the man" get the policies of the Party in either case and that determines how all of us will be governed.

The Iowa Caucuses show that Democrats, Independents, and Republicans want change from the Status Quo but everyone must vote based on the reality of the moment.

This first indication of "Democrats expanding their base, picking up the majority of independents, winning the Presidency, and increasing their margins in Congress in the fall." is good news but we have a long way to go so don"t divide the Democratic Party, help the Republicans divide their Party.

[Ravenlea]

Well, you know, the REALLY important news is stuff like whether Hillary Clinton's tearing up was sincere or not.

How can screwing over our young soldiers yet again compare to that in the realm of media significance?

Shame on us.

[checkmoot]

I hadn't heard of Americans being "victimized" by the Saddam Hussein government, but if so I would say let them sue. To be fair, though, Iraqis who have been victimized by the George Bush government should have the same rights.

[meileen]

I'm still pissed off that this did not make top news for a week. It was barely covered by the MSM. If it had been a Dem in the WH that pulled this crap, we'd be hearing about it up until and probably after the election.

[CatfishJohn]

....Paul, thank you once again sir for the insights and updates regarding the continued cruel rationaing of healthcare to our veterans from Bushco. i say this from the perspective of being a doctor in the VA system for the past 24 years, proudly serving those who served....the point i'd like to convey back to you is itself ominous...we have never even been informed that as of now as clinical providers int the VA that curent Iraq theatre vets are being time limited in access to services... InsteadBushco. has deamnded the VA put on a smiley face in the officiasl propaganda they feed us through central office regarding bushco.'s "ever-benevolent" funding of our system. additiaonlly, a new climte exists in the hallways of the VA where employees even causally criticizing the war, its faield execution and/or underlying motivation are often "moled" to sueprvisors and then harshly rebiuked for daring to exercise their right to free speech in private conversations...chilling in and of itself...we are now being told that substantial funding allocations will soon be realized in our system....so my simple question is, if iraq theatre vets are gettign time-limited health care access and we are rapidly losing through natural mortaility our former core clientele of WWII and Korea era vets, where is this new funding actually going to wind up?

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

THe 60 vote threshold is just cover for Dems who can't vote against their corporate patrons. Vote out ALL incumbents in the Congress!!

[Mattski1961]

So... Congress puts verbiage into a spending bill that really has nothing to do with the bill itself and somehow this is the President's fault?
Why is it that if something goes wrong, it must be laid at the feet of this President as though it falls exculsively into his purview to ensure that Congress is responsible in their legislation?
Why are your minds so closed as to believe that anyone with an "R" next to their name is inherently evil and anyone with a "D" next to theirs is inherently good?
Open your minds people! Open your minds...

[earlyearlyearly]

Once again we make the mistake of thinking W.
gives a rat about veteran's and their problems. "Hey, they volunteered. I'm workin' on my legacy over here.".

[research]

You know why "Impeachment is off the table"?
Rahm Emanuel takes credit for winning in the 2006 elections.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm_Emanuel

It had nothing to do with voters wanting to end the war.