This Memorial Day, elected officials will be delivering speeches that sing the praises of our military service-members at countless hometown events as we remember our fallen heroes from current and past wars. I highly encourage everyone reading this to attend such an event. But no matter where you find yourself today, I ask that you remember not only those who gave their lives in service to this nation, but also those who now face the prospect of becoming casualties of the Washington budget wars -- military veterans.
During the April budget impasse that nearly resulted in a government shutdown, House Republicans fired a warning shot at veterans by passing H.R. 1, which sought to end the Housing and Urban Development Agency's Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program (HUD-VASH). In the past three years, the HUD-VASH program has helped nearly 30,000 veterans by providing housing vouchers and assistance to help them get back on their feet. Thankfully, H.R. 1 was defeated in the Senate, but the battle isn't over.
The so-called deficit hawks are back on the warpath. House Speaker Boehner is now calling for trillions of dollars in cuts from the federal budget, as opposed to the one-hundred billion in cuts Republicans fought for in April. Not only that, but the current Republican budget blueprint, the "Ryan Plan," sets the 2012 Veterans Affairs budget at $128 billion, down $4.2 billion from the department's proposed budget. With our military currently fighting three wars, which are creating more wounded veterans every day, the Ryan budget is a slap in the face to anyone who has ever served in uniform.
It wasn't always this way. Support for veterans used to be a non-partisan no-brainer. It was understood that when men and women put on a uniform and take up arms to defend this country, the country makes a sacred promise to them that they will not be left behind and will not be forgotten. Service-members lay their lives on the line because of that promise, knowing that the man or woman next to them in combat will "never leave them behind." If we break this promise, we weaken the institutions that are tasked to protect us. How can we expect high-caliber individuals to continue enlisting in our armed forces when our government shows such a callous disregard for those who have served? The quality of our recruits will decline, and the quality of our military will suffer as a result.
With all of that said, I do agree with Speaker Boehner that our country cannot continue to increase our budget deficit and pass on the debt burden to future generations. This is irresponsible and will threaten the quality of life we who are fortunate to enjoy as American citizens. But we should not balance our checkbook at the expense of the values that define what it means to be American in the first place.
Those concerned about the budget deficit have several other courses of action they can pursue that do not put our veterans at risk: First, they could start promoting energy security and freedom from our dependence on foreign oil. If we can stop being dragged into costly wars, the cost of which make the Veterans Assistance budget look like pocket change, then spending will go down and revenue will go up due to the millions of jobs we could create right here in America.
Secondly, they could take the long-view on the issue of Veterans Assistance -- national programs like Housing First show that addressing homelessness early is far more cost-effective than paying for the medical bills and law enforcement costs associated with long-term, chronic homelessness in our cities.
Finally, we can ask our citizens, specifically the richest among us, to pay slightly higher taxes. We all need to do more than wave the flag on Memorial Day. If our citizens and our elected leaders truly believe that this country and the ideals it embodies are worth dying for, then we ought to have the integrity to stand up and say that those ideals are worth paying for, as well.
United States Department of Veterans Affairs - Wikipedia, the free ...
44 - Budget 2012: Veterans Affairs
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs | The White House
Michele Bachmann's Attack on Veterans' Affairs Budget - The Daily ...
VA budget would increase modestly in 2012 - Army News | News from ...
After thinking about it a bit more, the answer was obvious. The Dems don't care any more than the Reps do. They are simply two sides of the same coin - you flip the coin, it comes up heads or tails. No matter which side is up, the value never changes. Same thing here - the elections are the coin tosses. No matter who comes up as a winner though, the soldiers, the voters, the poor and the middle class all get screwed.
I would argue that that is a much more serious problem than the 'moral hazard' of passing out unemployment checks to people who have to have something to eat, but can't find a job.
So, if cutting off unemployment benefits makes sense, then it sounds like we also need 100% inheritance taxes, for the same reason. Afterall, we wouldn't want Biff and Muffy to risk becoming lazy, now would we?
Pardon me, but, the Ryan Plan is a slap in the face to every American, including my elderly mother, who's life depends upon it.
Ryan and Boehner are not only slapping my mom in the face, they're aso telling her to go die. What they both need is a slapdown by the American electorate.
The Ryan budget is NOT a slap in the face to wealthy Americans.
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How do these guys get any votes?
Have you ever helped voter registration? To get the poor/unable the voter ID's they need? A ride to the poll?
We'd all better get off our butts, if we don't like this sort of politics, or we will be enjoying more of it. It's just that simple.
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No big deal. I survived. :-) Today is Memorial Day and with it comes with parades, services, sales and picnics. How you celebrate this day is your choice.
However, take a moment on Memorial Day and reflect to the real reason of Memorial Day and have a moment of silence to thank the servicemen and women who have given the ultimate sacrifice to ensure our freedom to make a choice on this day. War is no picnic
Mike
Mike
We need to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire - all of them. We cannot afford them - and when we were under Clinton things got paid for and we had a budget surplus. Clearly the tax cuts produced no new jobs and did nothing to help the economy. Now the Deficit hawks are promising huge cuts to necessary programs along with bigger tax cuts for the wealthy. How insane is that logic???