Vfw Will Defeat Bachmann Plan

[allan]

fwd from: Colonel Dan

VFW Will Defeat Bachmann Plan

WASHINGTON (January 28, 2011) — America's oldest and largest major combat veterans' organization announced it will do everything within its power to defeat a plan introduced by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to cut $4.5 billion from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"No way, no how, will we let this proposal get any traction in Congress," said Richard L. Eubank, the national commander of the 2.1 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and its Auxiliaries.

On her website, the three-term congresswoman lists more than $400 billion in suggestions to cut federal spending. The VA suggestion would cap increases to VA healthcare spending, and reduce disability compensation to account for Social Security Disability Insurance payments — in other words, an offset. She says her plan is intended to generate discussion.

"The only discussion the VFW wants is to tell the congresswoman that her plan is totally out of step with America's commitment to our veterans," said Eubank, a retired Marine and Vietnam combat veteran from Eugene, Ore.

"There are certain things you do not do when our nation is at war, and at the top of that list is not caring for our wounded and disabled servicemen and women when they return home," he said. "I want the congresswoman to join us in a tour of the Minneapolis VA Medical Center and Poly Trauma Center the next time she's in her home district to witness firsthand the great work the VA does every day to heal their wounds and ease their pain. Then I want her to look those disabled veterans in the eye and tell them their service and sacrifice is too expensive for the nation to bear.

"The day this nation can't afford to take care of her veterans is the day this nation should quit creating them," said Eubank.

-30-

"Keep on, Keepin' on"

Dan Cedusky, Champaign IL "Colonel Dan"

See my web site at:

http://www.angelfire.com/il2/VeteranIssues/

[Pete53]

I thouhgt we were not allowed to discuss politics??????????

I once mentined in a thread something about a certian leader who had abandoned vets and was shot down for it real fast.

But I do see a pattern here.

I suppose whats good for the goose is not for the gander.

The reason this thread was kept open is to give members a chance to discuss an issue that has ramifications for Veterans. Yes it does involve politics but it is the politics that affect Veterans. It is the only exception.

Reading some hidden agenda is wrong. I do not understand how some Members just don't get it.I am grateful that Rep Bachman dropped her idea to cut Veteran benefits and make Veterans drop Social Security Disability or retirement once their VA check was equal or greater.

[carlie]

I thouhgt we were not allowed to discuss politics??????????

I once mentined in a thread something about a certian leader who had abandoned vets and was shot down for it real fast.

But I do see a pattern here.

I suppose whats good for the goose is not for the gander.

saw,

If you mentioned "a certain leader" then you were posting partisan politics.

The Moderators and Admin staff here do not need your help in policing the board.

As I posted before in this topic,

"Our mission regards veterans benefits and if something try's to reduce or cut them,stick with that and the thread can remain open for discussion."

[robert51]

ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Andrew Taylor, Associated Press – Thu Feb 10, 6:35 pm ET

WASHINGTON – Piling cuts on top of cuts, House Republican leaders outlined an additional $26 billion in spending reductions on Thursday in hopes of placating conservatives who rejected an initial draft as too timid.

Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., in charge of drafting the legislation, said he had proposed "deep but manageable cuts in nearly every area of government."

No details were immediately available, but the move would cut current spending in hundreds of federal programs by about $60 billion, resulting in levels in effect in 2008.

By Republican reckoning, the new measure would reduce spending by $100 billion below Obama's request for the current fiscal year, a number they had promised to meet in the "Pledge to America," their manifesto in the 2010 campaign. The actual cuts from current rates are less because the $100 billion promise assumes Obama budget increases that were never enacted.

Rogers, R-Ky., had warned only Wednesday that such cuts could lead to layoffs of FBI agents and harm to the nation's air traffic control system. He also warned of cuts to health research, special education and Pell Grants for low-income college students.

Thursday's announcement caps a long struggle among Republicans over what they meant exactly when promising to cut $100 billion last year in their Pledge to America. At the center of the debate has been the fact that the budget year began Oct. 1 and the government has been spending money at last year's levels since then. A stopgap government funding bill expires March 4.

That makes it much harder to keep the promise since it squeezes a year's worth of cuts into seven months. Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, had earlier promised to spread the cuts over a calendar year, with the upcoming spending bill making a significant down payment in advance of another round of cuts as Congress hashes out next year's appropriations bills.

"We will meet our pledge to America," Boehner said, adding that the upcoming legislation will "send a signal that we're serious about cutting spending here in Washington."

But rank-and-file Republicans, many of whom have little hands-on knowledge of the budget and the impact the cuts will have on programs popular with their constituents, insisted on keeping the $100 billion promise, forcing Boehner and the appropriations panel to go back to the drawing board.

"It's important to do what we said we were going to do," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.

Boehner met with GOP freshmen Thursday afternoon to sell the plan, which Republicans expect to unveil Friday afternoon.

The new plan will build upon a partial roster of cuts released Wednesday that targeted school aid, the Environmental Protection Agency and would kill off a high-speed rail program that Obama wants to significantly expand.

Republicans also promise to end federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, family planning services and AmeriCorps.

The new promise means closer scrutiny of the Pentagon, Homeland Security and possibly even veterans' accounts that Republicans had hoped to hold harmless.And it means that the FBI won't get the 4 percent increase Republicans had hoped to give it, while health research might bear a cut instead of being frozen at $31 billion.

Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, a Boehner confidante with responsibility for drafting the transportation and housing budgets from his perch on the Appropriations Committee, promised that a housing program that provides rent subsidies for the poor would continue to provide rental vouchers.

Latham worries, however, that House passage of the new, tougher version of the measure could spark a prolonged deadlock with the Senate and lead to a series of short-term spending bills that would continue to fund the government at current levels. Passing a measure with smaller cuts might have a better chance at becoming law.

"My concern is that we may be missing a real opportunity to actually enact cuts that could have been put in place and that we're going to end up with a (stopgap measure) that just continues level funding," Latham said

[allan]

and possibly even veterans' accounts that Republicans had hoped to hold harmless?

If any political party starts looking to compensate for their wastful spending on the backs of veterans, they will be doing it until there are no benefits left.

My guess is the first ones to even try will be voted out of office.

Saw where we are giving Egypt 40 billion in military aide. Why do we pay for any of these countries military aide?

I guess this country really is broke. They've spent theirs, plus what we've earned and scraficed for.

Maybe we should all go into the nursing home business. My mothers room rate soon goes to $600 pr day, after her insurance pays in.