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Economic Stimulus: Investing in Vets Delivers a Huge Bang for the Buck
"After a mortar sent Andrew Spurlock hurtling off a roof in Iraq, ending his Army career in 2006, the seasoned infantryman set aside bitterness over his back injury and began to chart his life in storybook fashion: a new house, a job as a police officer and more children.
But [...] the job with the Orange County Sheriff's Office fell through after officials there told Mr. Spurlock that he needed to "decompress" after two combat tours. Scrambling, he settled for a job delivering pizzas. Mr. Spurlock's disability claim for his back injury took 18 months to process, a year longer than expected. With little choice, the couple began putting mortgage payments on credit cards. The family debt climbed to $60,000, a chunk of it for medical bills, including for his wife and child. Foreclosure seemed certain." -The New York Times
Imagine struggling to pay your mortgage, keep your job and feed your family, all while serving a year-long deployment thousands of miles away. Every American is feeling the sting of the economic downturn. But veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are being hit especially hard. As the Senate begins to debate the economic stimulus package this week, our elected leaders must ensure that any plan to stimulate the economy fully supports the newest generation of veterans and their families.
You would think this would be a no-brainer, but after last week, I'm not optimistic. I still cannot believe that politicians in the House decided to cut funding to refurbish the National Mall, home of the memorials to honor our veterans and war dead of World War II, Korea and Vietnam. (Not to mention the Jefferson Memorial, which is so neglected it's currently sinking into the Tidal Basin.) Showing proper respect to our nation's heroes must be a controversial subject these days, because all of that funding was cut.
I'm hoping the Senate shows more reverence to our troops and veterans. The plan they have put forward is a good start: there are significant funding increases for veterans' hospitals, national cemeteries, and new childcare centers at military installations. The Senate version also includes three times the overall veterans' funding passed by the House.
But it still leaves the job unfinished. Even with the additional funding, the current plan falls short of what's required to cover the $5 billion backlog in needed repairs to VA facilities. The Senate must provide enough funds to cover the entire backlog, so that veterans in Kansas will have access to the same quality facilities as those in California. This money would put Americans back to work and would support our nation's bravest men and women.
$5 billion might seem like a lot of money. But it would represent less than one-half of one percent of the total stimulus package. And according to the Committee on Wartime Contracting, contractors we hired to rebuild Iraq wasted at least that much money (the total amount spent is much higher--in the hundreds of billions). Billions of dollars were totally lost to mismanagement and fraud, with nothing to show for it. So while Congress has spent years willing to spend, accountability-free, on Iraq's infrastructure, they are pinching pennies when it comes to repairing veterans' hospitals and war memorials. Shameful.
Of course, the comparison only goes so far, because rebuilding veterans' hospitals is actually a sound use of taxpayer dollars. Investing resources in our nation's veterans is a smart and patriotic way to improve the American economy. There is no better example than the GI Bill, which added seven dollars to the national economy for every dollar spent. This is the type of return that makes CNBC's Jim Cramer scream "Booyah!" Veterans' health care is just as good of a buy as the GI Bill: according to study after study, VA care is both better and cheaper than any health care system in the country.
And investment in veterans can take many forms. At IAVA, we've done the heavy thinking, and come up with a wide range of strong ideas for the Senate to add to their version of the bill. This includes retroactive payments to help cover veterans' student loans, a plan to triple the number of outreach coordinators employed at VA facilities, and new funding for programs that provide job training for homeless women veterans and homeless veterans with children. For complete details on veterans' funding in the economic stimulus package, along with our recommendations for improvements, click here.
Next week, Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from around the country will converge on Washington to take part in IAVA's annual Storm the Hill advocacy week. We will meet with dozens of members of Congress from both sides of the aisle to ensure that new veterans play a critical role in the rebuilding of America's economy. Think of it as a whole new kind of surge. We will make certain that Congress remembers the service of veterans from all generations, and that our nation's war memorials are not just some random patch of lawn.
Crossposted at IAVA.org.
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I'm a Navy veteran who served in the Persian Gulf during the early 80's. Since then, I've used my military, medical, digital media and alternative energy training for disaster preparedness and response. I've been in New Orleans since the day after hurricane Katrina, I've volunteered for several organization doing relief work and started a company to build affordable alternative energy powered homes that could withstand hurricane force winds and mass floods. We made our own biodiesel to power our lot clearing and construction equipment and started to build the First Net Zero energy home in the state of Louisiana.
The resent financial collapse has forced construction to stop on the house and the sale or our equipment. When I was putting our equipment up for sale, I found http://www.veteransgreenjobs.org. As a none profit who is in the business of training veterans in green careers and employing veterans to provide the training. A match for both me professionally and for the sale of my equipment. WOW!
We have a warehouse in New Orleans to train veterans in Bio Diesel production and building grease powered disaster relief and transportation vehicles for Veteran Green Jobs students to their other green classes, job sites, and community service projects. There is a future for America in living sustainably, as veterans we have paid the highest price for America's unsustainable life style. So, we are asking America to support the troops who want to continue to serve as examples of responsible citizens.
Investing in veterans health care and the GI bill is absolutely critical. To add to what Gordon said above, Veterans Green Jobs is launching a number of training programs in at least four states in 2009 that vets will be able to apply GI benefits to. Training areas range from energy conservation to green building to natural resource management. For more info check out their Veterans Green Jobs Academy at http://veteransgreenjobs.org/green-jobs-training/green-jobs-training-info.
"So, Senator|Representative [fill in name of any Republican], when you command us to 'support the troops,' what besides sending them to die and be crippled, do you mean, exactly?" asks an imaginary reporter with a hint of mettle.
Why should we feel that those who served should have to go the Veteran's Hospitals in the first place? Why shouldn't these people be allowed to go the the facility that meets their needs the best and get full service and then the government cover the cost? The bureacracy of the system is so burdensome that for a veteran to get meds when away from his primary VA facility is, from what one of my friend's tell me, excruciating.
My father died in a VA faciity and we were blessed to have had that option available.
Those who sacrificed should get the best possible service, and not be forced to wait in line for care.
Keep up the fight, Paul.
I agree with everything in this article. As a vet myself, I use my local VA clinic in Orlando for my healthcare, because I cannot afford health insurance. I have to say that the Orlando clinic is great. The staff treat the patients with utmost respect. Older, more able vets are employed there as well driving patients from the parking lot to the clinic. I wish there were a way to contact my senator and rep and have them respond to me on issues that I as their constituent think are important to my family and community. More money for vets. I absolutely agree.
I was able to use VA benefits to go to school and to get a no-down payment loan for my first house (I did not lose the house. Traded up to a bigger house eventually.) Veterans' benefits were a huge help to me and my family, I think they are a good thing, and I love the idea of today's vets getting what I got.
Vets need the help, they use the help, and it is a great investment in our country's future.
I wholeheartedly approve! Except for one thing:
Could we not call them "war memorials?" Because misnomers are part of the problem. It's not the wars themselves we should be memorializing; it's the brave men and women who have served that we should be remembering.
That having been said, bravo!
The first business of order at the VA Hospitals is to cancel our agreement with the Philippines to staff our VA facilities with Philipino nurses on H1B Visas. Most Americans are not aware that our government is guilty of hiring discrimination (against Americans) by giving jobs to poorly qualified Philippino nurses who essentially cannot be fired regardless of how poorly they perform. The "care" they provide is abysmal and most do not have not met the same educational and training requirements as their more qualified American counterparts but they are allowed to perform the same duties.
Do the research and you will see that even our Federal facilities are withholding jobs from qualified Americans and giving them to individuals who are marginally competitive.
Dear Paul,
That's why I heart ya brother, a real tell itas it IS! Thank you for all you do, carry on Sir. Agape, dap
Paul one thing you have left out that not only needs to be addressed but needs to be pushed. The VA disabilty compensation has not been updated in over 50 years. The Veterans study group has stated that VA compensation should be increased by at least 25 percent for starters. This will help many disabled veterans survive the day to day money hardships. This has been sitting in the senate now for over a year and a half. This should be number one on a very long list that needs to be taken care of. How many disabled vets will loose everything while waiting? This is one issue I would wish you and all veterans groups would sound off on. I have wrote you in the past on this issue and you have the postion to speak for those who nobody seams to hear.
Thanks for what you do, keep up the fight and I hope you see this.
Wolf
another way we can help is by ensuring that the new 'high-tech' jobs being created with this stimulus aren't just given away to H1-B Visa holders. Our bright young men and women are coming home -- at long last -- and of course, a great many of those will have the skills to fill these jobs. Lets have jobs here waiting for them.
Paul,
I have followed you since your very first post here at HuffPo, cheered when I saw you on The Henry Rollins Show, and eagerly awaited any news from IAVA after signing up. As the sister of an airman, daughter of a Vietnam vet, and the friend of a marine killed in Iraq, I can't thank you enough for all that you do to make sure that the veterans are well-represented, and that we civillians are educated regarding things we can do to support our troops who fight every day for our freedom. I would rather take back my income tax money and send it myself to the military hospitals to care for wounded veterans, or to that vet who was forced to pay his mortgage on credit because of a back injury. Our government has failed all of us on the most fundamental levels, and it is time that more people like you stand up and shout down the greed, corruption and mismanagement until finally we can be the country we always hoped we were.
Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart.
Thanks, Mrs Manarlican! You rock!
Thanks for all the comments. Keep em coming and please pass this piece on.
Let's not forget the vets from other eras of service who are currently being shortchanged although damaged. There are Korean era troops, some Marines with combat up north, not afforded benefits. This needs attention. Retirees with impaired hearing because back in the day the military provided no hearing protection, once got hearing aids wholesale, but no longer. They're being stiffed.
Look, Paul, this is not 1929. We are NOT as well off as then. At least back then we had our industrial base and natural resources intact and our financial system was only fractured, not destroyed. In other words, though we where barely limping along during the thirties, we still retained enormous economic potential. Or to look at the comparison another way. During the thirties we were like an auto mobile out of gas. Just needed to refill the tank and off we would go. Today, it is as if we have been over racing the car, blown the engine and ran the remains into a swamp. All potential is gone. Only the figure pointing and owning up to a very nasty future is left, or pretty much what the western world experienced during the crude living of the Dark Ages after the fall of the Roman Empire. Indeed, we will go on somehow, but for those of us having lived through the GREAT times, it is going to feel mighty unpleasant.
Republicans may still be a problem, but this ship is going into the rocks with or without their help.
Get in line soldier! And declare your allegiance, left or right?
My allegiance is to my country--neither left or right. And thanks, but I don't take orders anymore.
Reickhoff, you make it sound so simple. But it's not. In the end, to fulfill your allegiance to our country, you'll have to commit.
I just started following you because of your appearances of The Rachel Madow Show. I saw a caring, articulate, compassionate man. And that is what I read here: a reasoned and informed call for respect for those who protect us. The abuse our veterans have endured is unconscionable and should be at the top of the list for support and assistance.
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