"In January 2005, the House leadership removed Representative Chris Smith as Chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. Chairman Smith's removal, two years before his six-year term limit, was the direct result of Chairman Smith's strong advocacy on behalf of our nation's veterans and his refusal to allow his colleagues in Congress to forget our governments commitment to sick and disabled veterans. The House leadership also passed over Representative Bilirakis, Vice-Chairman of the Committee and a strong veterans?advocate, for the less senior Congressman from Indiana, Steve Buyer, who has been a strong proponent of reducing the number of veterans who are eligible for VA health care."
The sad fact is that the VA situation is much more dire thanmost imagine. While most VA hospitals i have been to are acceptable,one, in Quincy, MA was truly outstsanding.The one that i sometimes go to in OK City is a sewer with the atmosphere of a mortuary: Veterans wait almost three hours just to ge their blood drawn.
The folks who are really left out in the cold by the VA are those who are wounded in Afghanistan or Iraq. This is especially true of national guard folks.When theyleave active dutythey are often in limbo whentheir body acts up from PTSD, brain concussion, sand fly bites, etc.The sand fly is all over Iraq. It lays eggs under the skin when it bites. The eggs hatch out in the internal organs.It takes over one year just to get a new veterans claim adjudicated.
Rep Chris Smith(R) NJ, was the Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee under the Republicans. He got fired by draft dodgingchickenhawk Hastert for taking care of vets when Bush wanted to cut veterans benefits. Despite being a veteran himself, Steve Buyer(R) IN is a stinking POS.
Here is a link that explains the Commander in Cheap Bush and Fat Hastert shenanigans:
http://www.dav.org/voters/erosion_benefits.html
Sad indication of care for Vets
