Iraq Vets Storm the Hill, Congress Rapidly Responds

Earlier this week, I told you about an amazing group of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans that were coming to Capitol Hill for a historic trip to Congress, to advocate on behalf of their fellow vets. Today, I want to tell you just one of their extraordinary stories.

Rey Leal served as a Marine in Fallujah during some of the heaviest fighting, earning a Bronze Star with valor as a Private First Class, an almost unheard of accomplishment for a soldier of his rank. But when he returned to southern Texas, he needed help coming home from war. Instead of having resources at his fingertips, his closest VA hospital was over five hours away. Rey’s a tough Marine, and a boxer, but he shouldn’t have to fight to get care at a veterans’ hospital. And at his nearest outpatient clinic, there was just one psychologist, taking appointments only two days a week. 

The psychologist only works two days because that Texas clinic, like many VA clinics and hospitals, has to stretch its’ funding to make sure the money lasts the whole year. They don’t know how much funding they’ll have next year because the VA budget is routinely passed late. In fact, 19 of the past 22 years, the budget has not been passed on time. As a result, the VA is forced to ration care for the almost 6 million veterans that depend on its services.

For the millions of veterans like Rey, we must fix this broken VA funding system. 

Imagine trying to balance your family’s budget without knowing what your next paycheck will be. That’s what we’re asking of the largest health care provider in the nation to do.  And it doesn’t work.

The good news is that there is a solution. “Advance appropriations,” approving the VA health care budget one year in advance, would supply timely and predictable funding, and it’s an effective way to ensure the highest quality care that our veterans deserve. It doesn’t make for a sexy news story.  But it is a critical, comprehensive way to tackle many of the challenges facing vets ranging from PTSD, to homelessness to military sexual trauma. And it wouldn’t cost a dime. That is not something you hear much down in Washington lately.

While the lack of cost is highly unusual, advance appropriations is not a new concept for how the federal government does business. Low-income housing and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting already depend on the advance appropriations process to plan their programming. If this policy is good enough for Big Bird, then it should be good enough for vets like Rey.

That has been our message all week in Washington.  Now this week, in the face of a surge of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from across the country, Congress has rapidly responded.  Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Congressman Bob Filner (D-CA), the chairmen of the Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committees, are introducing bipartisan legislation to provide advance appropriations for the VA.  And Rey and the rest of our Storm the Hill team of young veterans will be there to support this historic change.

It’s reassuring to know that in these tough fiscal times, Congress is not only listening to Wall Street CEOs, but that they are also listening to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

And Senator Akaka and Congressman Filner are not alone in supporting advanced VA funding. It has a broad coalition of support. President Obama and Senator McCain both backed the idea during the 2008 campaign, and new VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has signaled early support for the concept.

Every major veterans’ organization in America is also on board. The IAVA crew in Washington this week represents the first wave of veterans’ groups hitting Capitol Hill to push for advance appropriations in 2009. This week, the young vets have boldly taken the beach. And in the coming days and weeks, other generations of veterans will follow.  We are coordinating our political fire—just like we did on the battlefields of Baghdad and Normandy.  Together, we will show Capitol Hill, the media, and the entire country, that 25 million veterans of all generations stand united behind the right solution to fix VA health care funding once and for all.

Crossposted at IAVA.org.

Comments

[EtTuBrute]

In addition to donating to the IAVA (which I recommend). I encourage all readers of Mr. Reickhoff's posts to include references to these postings in other articles referring to military and veteran's issues.

It is an unfortunate reality that articles pertaining to military and veteran's issues generate much less interest than "partisan" articles.

See my comment on Glantz"s article ""You Saved My Life" ... A Reason to Keep Reporting" (8 comments). : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-glantz/you-saved-my-life-a-reaso_b_168054.html?show_comment_id=21049814#comment_21049814

Part said:
"It is, however, depressing to note that this article has generated a total of four comments, and Reickhoff"s article alerting the public to the IAVA"s work in Washington last week generated a total of 22, compared to hundreds for the more "partisan" issues in many other articles. No wonder many veterans feel they are the only group really lobbying for systemic reform, with "lip service" from the public at large, when the public manages to notice."

Paul Reickhoffs story: "More Soldiers Lost to Suicide than to Al Qaeda in January: Iraq Veterans Storm the Hill" generated 22 comments.

The sum total of comments on this story (the one you are reading) is presently 61 (counting pending ones).

Today’s “Army Emergency Relief Hoarded $117 Million Meant For Soldiers” has generated 19 comments thus far.

The sum total of comments on the Senator Shelby story (from today) is 4116.

I report. You decide.

[biglover]

Donate to IAVA. Your donations go a long way.

[paulrieckhoff]

Thanks, so much, biglover. Here is a link: www.StormTheHill.org.

[rob2007]

This non-treatment and shoddy treatment of our service personnel should be a national disgrace. "Let us rededicate ourselves to keep a sacred trust with all who have worn the uniform of the United States of America: that America will serve you as well as you have served your country," said the President on Veteran's Day. Right now is the prime opportunity to separate further from the callous myopia and failures of the Bush administration.

[biglover]

The IAVA was seeking donations to help send some of the vets to congress and I was glad to donate something. I love these guys and they are doing so much for the returning soldiers.

[mergina]

Make sure they do not forget Vets when they are throwing BILLIONS AROUND.

[Flagrantlover]

Get em boys!!!!!!!

[paulrieckhoff]

Thanks very much...er...Flagrantlover.

[praire2paradise]

This is partly the result of what happened when in 2005 Rep. Steven Buyer (R-IN). decided to exclude the major veteran's organizations (American Legion, VFW, DAV, Parealyzed Vets, DJV, etc.) from participation in the pre-mark-up hearings. That was the first time that had happened and it was a disgrace. They wwere only allowed public commentary after the bill had gone through mark-up and was a done deal. While the oil, coal, and financial industry lobbiests were allowed in to write the bills, the veteran's lobbiests were left out in the cold. Mr. Buyer is a veteran himself. He should be ashamed of himself for his role in this injustice.

[Rmtns]

The American Legion and the VFW have not been advocates for veterans for a long time. I refuse to support either of these organizations until they quit cheerleading for war, the Republican party and perks for their leaders rather than the veterans they are supposed to be the advocating for.
When I returned in the 70's, I was informed that I didn't qualify for membership in the VFW, as I wasn't in a real war. Now that the membership has aged and the Korean and WW2 vets have passed on, the story is different, but the leadership refuses to force Congress to fully fund the VA, to make the VA recognise Gulf War Syndrome and the head injury cases and PTSD cases coming back for the Mid East.
I say "For Shame!"

[parkerfly38]

I'm a card carrying Legionnaire, and I don't know what you're talking about. The American Legion is out there every day, working hard to advocate for the veterans. And I think you've confused cheerleading the war with cheerleading the troops fighting it, which is what the Legion does. I say "for shame" for slandering one of the few organizations that has consistently fulfilled its mission.

[gladiator777]

Interesting how many of you criticized our troops for supposedly killing innocent men, women and children in the night in the middle east, like they kill innocent people on purpose, c'mon its by accident. Many of you have criticized our troops for the work they do. Then when the vets have problems with care you immediately run to their defense as if you all of a sudden care for them.

So when we end up in more wars, which will probably happen this year, I hope you support them as much as you claim to now and hold to those same beliefs.

[FightingTheRight]

Sorry it was Bush, who cut VA benefits while claiming to "Support the Troops"!

[Flagrantlover]

No one criticized the troops for killing people. We criticized the politicos who gave the orders.

Stop!

[MajorKong]

Wars often make otherwise good people do terrible things. Guerilla wars especially, by their very nature.

[postman606]

You missed it, the criticism is of a government who would even put them in such a position, based on lies.

[gladiator777]

Problem is the system is underfunded, and it is not run very well, just like every other government program in this country. You guys just now realizing government doesn't run anything well? Lots of jokes out there about how the government waste money and suck at managing.

Get rid of a lot of the public assistance programs we have, and give it to the troops who certainly deserve it more than anyone else. Then they'll have all the funding they need, and we'd get rid of the welfare programs that we don't need.

[FightingTheRight]

Maybe the taxcuts for the rich could have been used for the troops?

Cut some corporate welfare?

[FightingTheRight]

Or maybe the money could be found here?


Study Tallies Corporations Not Paying Income Tax
LYNNLEY BROWNING
Published: August 12, 2008
Correction Appended

Two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005, according to a report released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

The study, which is likely to add to a growing debate among politicians and policy experts over the contribution of businesses to Treasury coffers, did not identify the corporations or analyze why they had paid no taxes. It also did not say whether they had been operating properly within the tax code or illegally evading it.

[gladiator777]

Aye, best way to fix this is scrap all these other ridiculous public assistance programs for people who don't deserve it, and use that money for the vets, they do deserve it more than anyone else as ya'll did rightfully say.

[parkerfly38]

I'm sorry, as much as I like my healthcare, I also like knowing that hungry babies are eating. It's kind of why I fight, thankyouverymuch. On the other hand, they could cut ridiculous missile defense systems and put that money towards, you know, useful things.

[wolf58]

“To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan,” President Lincoln affirmed the government’s obligation to care for those injured during the war and to provide for the families of those who perished on the battlefield.

So what happened?

[lincheryl]

This is where McCain is the biggest hypocrite--saying he honors veterans but voting against paying for their care. He was against Webb's bill last year, saying it was "too generous" and wouldn't make people stay in longer. He would have voted against it, but couldn't be bothered to vote at all while campaigning. The other candidates were away from Congress more than usual, but voted some on the really important bills, but not McCain. Zero.

[helonias]

Thats because No one from the Bush/Cheney/Romney gene pool has these problems.

Wonder why?

[Rog49Thomas]

Failure to support our brave service men and service women both in the field and post service falls I believe under Article 3 Section 3 of that "quaint" forgotten document the US Constitution.

[Rog49Thomas]

Isn't it just like liberals to want to spend our precious tax dollars on social welfare programs instead of on more needless wars, unncessary tax cuts for the already too wealthy, and billion dollar no bid contracts and bailout for big corporations?

The answer is so simple: wear two flag pins and call me in the morning.

[demfriend]

This broken system where vets of all ages and from as far back as WWII who are near death and many, many Vietnam vets too have to struggle to get into the small clinics when they are open. We get in-patient psych patients from all over the world as we are the biggest in the states other than Bethesda the only other who has in patient psych we are it.... When San Diego Naval Medical Center and Bethesda are the two places to go for mental health in-patient how many places really are there to serve the huge number of patients not just PTSD and suicidal active and vets? Sure there are VA facilities all over the states and some in the world but they are not doing what needs to be done for those in dire need of this kind of help. Too many are getting psych meds from their "doc" in the field who is not trained psych doctors but corpmen/corpwomen. It needs to be said and something must be done or we face even more dying by their own hand or killing those they love and themselves when they get home. Please write your congressmen/women and let them know there is a need much bigger than they are even looking at.