Well, we lost!

[Gimpy]

guess all the efforts to get folks to contact their representatives went for naught!

We got screwed again!

But, don't worry cause "Help is on the way", as G. W. Bush said during the 2000 presidential campaign refering to his pledge to improve and properly fund the VA. Yeah right!

I'll have a "roll call" vote available ASAP ---but from what I could tell on C-span today it went pretty much along "party" lines. With democrats opposing the measure and the majority of republicans voteing to pass this SHIT!

Here's what the head of the VFW has to say about it.

*******************************

VFW Chief Charges House with Betrayal; VA Funding Amendment Rejected


Washington, D.C.,July 25, 2003 --The U.S. House of Representatives today through a procedural maneuver struck down an attempt to restore $1.8 billion in veterans' health-care funding even though the House leadership had assured veterans and the nation that this would be a budget that "meets the needs of America's veterans."

On Monday the House Appropriations Committee approved a VA-HUD subcommittee recommendation for a meager $1.4 billion increase for veterans' health care, a level that is a full $2 billion less than the House leadership had agreed to provide for this purpose

"Those who voted today in favor of this rule governing final action on the VA-HUD appropriation are guilty of betraying this nation's veterans in need," VFW Commander-in-Chief Ray Sisk said.

"For the Congress, in this case the House, not to appropriate this amount is a clear betrayal of the assurances made to America's veterans by the House Republican leadership," Sisk said. "It is beyond my belief that a Congress that voted to send Americans to war would not financially support the health care system that cares for our nation's veterans."

********************************

[Arrow]

I know Steve...can't get much more callous than that....I'm numb from this...can't even express how I feel....Sis

[Gimpy]

I know---it's a cryin f--king SHAME these so-called "friends" of the veterans have the balls to do this $hit! Especially after sending MORE of this great nations sons' & daughters into harms way to be "eligible" for this Congress' & this Presidents' "version" of "help"!!

I am thoroughly and completely disgusted with the way this Congress AND this administration has conducted themselves with regards to their campaign "pledges" and "promises" to improve veterans health care & benefits!

Maybe NEXT time folks will listen to me (but, I doubt it, they're too damn "blinded" by their unwillingness to see the facts!)---I've been saying this shit would CONTINUE as long as the republicans are in "control", cause it sure as hell HAS been that way since they've held Congress for the past decade! It AIN'T gonna change.

Anyway, I gotta go get away from all this $hit for a while before I end up sayin something that REALLy night "piss-off" some of the more 'conservative" elements around here.

I sure as hell hope they're happy now. They got what I said they would!!!

[Arrow]

Steve,

Take care of yourself. I know this breaks your heart but I don't like you getting your blood pressure and heart rate so high. You bride needs you, your family needs you, and your friends need you.

Try and remember that we do have some wonderful people on here that have voted Republican for years. I'm one of them That doesn't mean they don't care about our Veterans community. We have all been let down by our political (leaders?) on both sides. It's a shame. I do believethat Veterans as a community are going to have to find a way to come together and insist that Veterans health care and service connectedclaimsbe top priority for this nation. We just can't continue to throw our young away to war and turn our backs on them when they come home.

With high regards for your love and service to all of us brother....Sis

[Gimpy]

Vote Tally below
*****************************


Yea : 215 Members
Don Young (R-AK)
Robert Aderholt (R-AL)
Spencer Bachus (R-AL)
Jo Bonner (R-AL)
Terry Everett (R-AL)
Michael Rogers (R-AL)
John Boozman (R-AR)
Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Trent Franks (R-AZ)
J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ)
Jim Kolbe (R-AZ)
Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
John Shadegg (R-AZ)
Mary Bono (R-CA)
Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Christopher Cox (R-CA)
Randy Cunningham (R-CA)
John Doolittle (R-CA)
David Dreier (R-CA)
Elton Gallegly (R-CA)
Wally Herger (R-CA)
Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
Darrell Issa (R-CA)
Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
Howard McKeon (R-CA)
Gary Miller (R-CA)
Devin Nunes (R-CA)
Doug Ose (R-CA)
Richard Pombo (R-CA)
George Radanovich (R-CA)
Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)
Ed Royce (R-CA)
William Thomas (R-CA)
Bob Beauprez (R-CO)
Scott McInnis (R-CO)
Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)
Thomas Tancredo (R-CO)
Christopher Shays (R-CT)
Robert Simmons (R-CT)
Michael Bilirakis (R-FL)
Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL)
Ander Crenshaw (R-FL)
Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
Tom Feeney (R-FL)
Mark Foley (R-FL)
Porter Goss (R-FL)
Katherine Harris (R-FL)
Ric Keller (R-FL)
John Mica (R-FL)
Jeff Miller (R-FL)
Adam Putnam (R-FL)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)
E. Clay Shaw (R-FL)
Cliff Stearns (R-FL)
Dave Weldon (R-FL)
C.W. Bill Young (R-FL)
Max Burns (R-GA)
Michael Collins (R-GA)
Nathan Deal (R-GA)
Phil Gingrey (R-GA)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Jack Kingston (R-GA)
John Linder (R-GA)
Charles Norwood (R-GA)
Steve King (R-IA)
Tom Latham (R-IA)
Jim Leach (R-IA)
Jim Nussle (R-IA)
C.L. Otter (R-ID)
Mike Simpson (R-ID)
Judy Biggert (R-IL)
Philip Crane (R-IL)
J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL)
Henry Hyde (R-IL)
Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Ray LaHood (R-IL)
Donald Manzullo (R-IL)
John Shimkus (R-IL)
Jerry Weller (R-IL)
Dan Burton (R-IN)
Chris Chocola (R-IN)
Mike Pence (R-IN)
Mark Souder (R-IN)
Jim Ryun (R-KS)
Todd Tiahrt (R-KS)
Ernie Fletcher (R-KY)
Ron Lewis (R-KY)
Anne Northup (R-KY)
Harold Rogers (R-KY)
Richard Baker (R-LA)
Jim McCrery (R-LA)
W.J. Tauzin (R-LA)
David Vitter (R-LA)
Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD)
Dave Camp (R-MI)
Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI)
Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI)
Candice Miller (R-MI)
Michael Rogers (R-MI)
Nick Smith (R-MI)
Fred Upton (R-MI)
Gil Gutknecht (R-MN)
Mark Kennedy (R-MN)
John Kline (R-MN)
Jim Ramstad (R-MN)
Todd Akin (R-MO)
Roy Blunt (R-MO)
Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
Sam Graves (R-MO)
Kenny Hulshof (R-MO)
Charles Pickering (R-MS)
Roger Wicker (R-MS)
Dennis Rehberg (R-MT)
Cass Ballenger (R-NC)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Howard Coble (R-NC)
Robin Hayes (R-NC)
Walter Jones (R-NC)
Sue Myrick (R-NC)
Charles Taylor (R-NC)
Doug Bereuter (R-NE)
Tom Osborne (R-NE)
Lee Terry (R-NE)
Charles Bass (R-NH)
Jeb Bradley (R-NH)
Michael Ferguson (R-NJ)
Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ)
Scott Garrett (R-NJ)
Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ)
Christopher Smith (R-NJ)
Steve Pearce (R-NM)
Heather Wilson (R-NM)
James Gibbons (R-NV)
Jon Porter (R-NV)
Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY)
Vito Fossella (R-NY)
Sue Kelly (R-NY)
Peter King (R-NY)
Thomas Reynolds (R-NY)
John Sweeney (R-NY)
James Walsh (R-NY)
John Boehner (R-OH)
Steve Chabot (R-OH)
Paul Gillmor (R-OH)
David Hobson (R-OH)
Steven LaTourette (R-OH)
Bob Ney (R-OH)
Michael Oxley (R-OH)
Rob Portman (R-OH)
Deborah Pryce (R-OH)
Ralph Regula (R-OH)
Patrick Tiberi (R-OH)
Michael Turner (R-OH)
Tom Cole (R-OK)
Ernest Istook (R-OK)
Frank Lucas (R-OK)
John Sullivan (R-OK)
Greg Walden (R-OR)
Philip English (R-PA)
Jim Gerlach (R-PA)
Jim Greenwood (R-PA)
Melissa Hart (R-PA)
Timothy Murphy (R-PA)
John Peterson (R-PA)
Joseph Pitts (R-PA)
Don Sherwood (R-PA)
Bill Shuster (R-PA)
Pat Toomey (R-PA)
Curt Weldon (R-PA)
J. Gresham Barrett (R-SC)
Henry Brown (R-SC)
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Joe Wilson (R-SC)
William Janklow (R-SD)
Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
John Duncan (R-TN)
William Jenkins (R-TN)
Zach Wamp (R-TN)
Joe Barton (R-TX)
Henry Bonilla (R-TX)
Kevin Brady (R-TX)
Michael Burgess (R-TX)
John Carter (R-TX)
Larry Combest (R-TX)
John Culberson (R-TX)
Tom DeLay (R-TX)
Kay Granger (R-TX)
Ralph Hall (D-TX)
Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Sam Johnson (R-TX)
Pete Sessions (R-TX)
Lamar Smith (R-TX)
Rob Bishop (R-UT)
Chris Cannon (R-UT)
Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Jo Ann Davis (R-VA)
Thomas Davis (R-VA)
Randy Forbes (R-VA)
Virgil Goode (R-VA)
Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
Edward Schrock (R-VA)
Frank Wolf (R-VA)
Jennifer Dunn (R-WA)
Doc Hastings (R-WA)
George Nethercutt (R-WA)
Mark Green (R-WI)
Thomas Petri (R-WI)
Paul Ryan (R-WI)
F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI)
Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)
Barbara Cubin (R-WY)


Nay : 212 Members
Robert Cramer (D-AL)
Artur Davis (D-AL)
Marion Berry (D-AR)
Mike Ross (D-AR)
Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
Ed Pastor (D-AZ)
Joe Baca (D-CA)
Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
Howard Berman (D-CA)
Lois Capps (D-CA)
Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
Susan Davis (D-CA)
Calvin Dooley (D-CA)
Anna Eshoo (D-CA)
Sam Farr (D-CA)
Bob Filner (D-CA)
Jane Harman (D-CA)
Michael Honda (D-CA)
Tom Lantos (D-CA)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
Robert Matsui (D-CA)
Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA)
George Miller (D-CA)
Grace Napolitano (D-CA)
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
Linda Sanchez (D-CA)
Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)
Adam Schiff (D-CA)
Brad Sherman (D-CA)
Hilda Solis (D-CA)
Fortney Stark (D-CA)
Ellen Tauscher (D-CA)
Mike Thompson (D-CA)
Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Diane Watson (D-CA)
Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
Diana DeGette (D-CO)
Joel Hefley (R-CO)
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
Nancy Johnson (R-CT)
John Larson (D-CT)
Michael Castle (R-DE)
F. Allen Boyd (D-FL)
Corrine Brown (D-FL)
Jim Davis (D-FL)
Peter Deutsch (D-FL)
Alcee Hastings (D-FL)
Kendrick Meek (D-FL)
Robert Wexler (D-FL)
Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
John Lewis (D-GA)
Denise Majette (D-GA)
Jim Marshall (D-GA)
David Scott (D-GA)
Neil Abercrombie (D-HI)
Ed Case (D-HI)
Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
Jerry Costello (D-IL)
Danny Davis (D-IL)
Rahm Emanuel (D-IL)
Lane Evans (D-IL)
Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)
Jesse Jackson (D-IL)
Bobby Rush (D-IL)
Janice Schakowsky (D-IL)
Julia Carson (D-IN)
Baron Hill (D-IN)
John Hostettler (R-IN)
Peter Visclosky (D-IN)
Dennis Moore (D-KS)
Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Ken Lucas (D-KY)
Edward Whitfield (R-KY)
Rodney Alexander (D-LA)
William Jefferson (D-LA)
Chris John (D-LA)
Michael Capuano (D-MA)
William Delahunt (D-MA)
Barney Frank (D-MA)
Stephen Lynch (D-MA)
Edward Markey (D-MA)
James McGovern (D-MA)
Marty Meehan (D-MA)
Richard Neal (D-MA)
John Olver (D-MA)
John Tierney (D-MA)
Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD)
Benjamin Cardin (D-MD)
Elijah Cummings (D-MD)
Steny Hoyer (D-MD)
C.A. Ruppersberger (D-MD)
Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)
Albert Wynn (D-MD)
Thomas Allen (D-ME)
Michael Michaud (D-ME)
John Conyers (D-MI)
John Dingell (D-MI)
Dale Kildee (D-MI)
Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI)
Sander Levin (D-MI)
Bart Stupak (D-MI)
Betty McCollum (D-MN)
James Oberstar (D-MN)
Collin Peterson (D-MN)
Martin Olav Sabo (D-MN)
William Clay (D-MO)
Richard Gephardt (D-MO)
Ike Skelton (D-MO)
Gene Taylor (D-MS)
Bennie Thompson (D-MS)
Frank Ballance (D-NC)
Bob Etheridge (D-NC)
Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
Brad Miller (D-NC)
David Price (D-NC)
Melvin Watt (D-NC)
Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Robert Menendez (D-NJ)
Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
Bill Pascrell (D-NJ)
Donald Payne (D-NJ)
Steven Rothman (D-NJ)
Tom Udall (D-NM)
Shelley Berkley (D-NV)
Gary Ackerman (D-NY)
Tim Bishop (D-NY)
Joseph Crowley (D-NY)
Eliot Engel (D-NY)
Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)
Amory Houghton (R-NY)
Steve Israel (D-NY)
Nita Lowey (D-NY)
Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
John McHugh (R-NY)
Michael McNulty (D-NY)
Gregory Meeks (D-NY)
Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Major Owens (D-NY)
Jack Quinn (R-NY)
Charles Rangel (D-NY)
Jose Serrano (D-NY)
Louise McIntosh Slaughter (D-NY)
Edolphus Towns (D-NY)
Nydia Velazquez (D-NY)
Anthony Weiner (D-NY)
Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
Tim Ryan (D-OH)
Ted Strickland (D-OH)
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH)
Brad Carson (D-OK)
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
Darlene Hooley (D-OR)
David Wu (D-OR)
Robert Brady (D-PA)
Mike Doyle (D-PA)
Chaka Fattah (D-PA)
Joseph Hoeffel (D-PA)
Tim Holden (D-PA)
Paul Kanjorski (D-PA)
John Murtha (D-PA)
Todd Platts (R-PA)
Patrick Kennedy (D-RI)
James Langevin (D-RI)
James Clyburn (D-SC)
John Spratt (D-SC)
Jim Cooper (D-TN)
Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
Harold Ford (D-TN)
John Tanner (D-TN)
Chris Bell (D-TX)
Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)
Chet Edwards (D-TX)
Martin Frost (D-TX)
Charles Gonzalez (D-TX)
Gene Green (D-TX)
Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
Nicholas Lampson (D-TX)
Solomon Ortiz (D-TX)
Ron Paul (R-TX)
Silvestre Reyes (D-TX)
Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX)
Max Sandlin (D-TX)
Charles Stenholm (D-TX)
Jim Turner (D-TX)
Jim Matheson (D-UT)
Rick Boucher (D-VA)
James Moran (D-VA)
Bobby Scott (D-VA)
Bernard Sanders (I-VT)
Brian Baird (D-WA)
Norman Dicks (D-WA)
Jay Inslee (D-WA)
Rick Larsen (D-WA)
Jim McDermott (D-WA)
Adam Smith (D-WA)
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Ron Kind (D-WI)
Jerry Kleczka (D-WI)
David Obey (D-WI)
Alan Mollohan (D-WV)
Nick Rahall (D-WV)

***************************

Looks like we had a total of ELEVEN (11) republicans that DID have a conscience and had the BALLS to go against "party lines". Seems awfully clear to ME which political party SUPPORTS veterans now, HUH?

[Gimpy]

Posted on Sun, Jul. 27, 2003

Bush, Republicans losing support of retired veterans
By STEVEN THOMMA
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - President Bush and his Republican Party are facing a political backlash from an unlikely group - retired veterans.

Normally Republican, many retired veterans are mad that Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress are blocking remedies to two problems with health and pension benefits. They say they feel particularly betrayed by Bush, who appealed to them in his 2000 campaign, and who vowed on the eve of his inauguration that "promises made to our veterans will be promises kept."

"He pats us on the back with his speeches and stabs us in the back with his actions," said Charles A. Carter of Shawnee, Okla., a retired Navy senior chief petty officer. "I will vote non-Republican in a heart beat if it continues as is."

"I feel betrayed," said Raymond C. Oden Jr., a retired Air Force Chief Master Sergeant now living in Abilene, Texas.

Many veterans say they will not vote for Bush or any Republican in 2004 and are considering voting for a Democrat for the first time. Others say they will sit out the election, angry with Bush and Republicans but unwilling to support Democrats, whom they say are no better at keeping promises to veterans. Some say they will still support Bush and his party despite their ire.

While there are no recent polls to measure veterans' political leanings, any significant erosion of support for Bush and Republicans could hurt in a close election. It could be particularly troublesome in states such as Florida that are politically divided and crowded with military retirees.

Registered Republican James Cook, who retired to Fort Walton Beach, Fla., after 24 years in the Air Force, said he is abandoning a party that he said abandoned him. "Bush is a liar," he said. "The Republicans in Congress, with very few exceptions, are gutless party lapdogs who listen to what puts money in their own pockets or what will get them re-elected."

Veterans have two gripes.

One is a longstanding complaint that some disabled vets, in effect, have to pay their own disability benefits out of their retirement pay through a law they call the Disabled Veterans Tax.

Since 1891, anyone retiring after a full military career has had their retirement pay reduced dollar for dollar for any Veterans Administration checks they get for a permanent service-related disability. However, a veteran who served a two-or-four-year tour does not have a similar reduction in Social Security or private pension.

A majority of members of Congress, from both parties, wants to change the law. A House proposal by Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Ga., has 345 co-sponsors.

But it would cost as much as $5 billion a year to expand payments to 670,000 disabled veterans, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier this month told lawmakers that the president would veto any bill including the change.

The proposal is stuck in committee. A recent effort to bring it to the full House of Representatives failed, in part because only one Republican signed the petition.

"The cost is exorbitant. And we are dealing with a limited budget," said Harald Stavenas, a spokesman for the House Armed Services Committee.

The second complaint is over medical care. After decades of promising free medical care for life to anyone who served for 20 years, the government in the 1990s abandoned the promise in favor of a new system called Tricare. The Tricare system provides medical care, but requires veterans to pay a deductible and does not cover dental, hearing or vision care.

A group of military retirees challenged the government in a class-action lawsuit, won a first round, then were seriously disappointed when Bush allowed the government to appeal. Government won the next legal round.

"I voted for the president because of the promises," said Floyd Sears, a retired Air Force master sergeant in Biloxi, Miss. "But as far as I can tell, he has done nothing. In fact, his actions have been detrimental to the veterans and retired veterans. I'm very disappointed about the broken promise on medical care."

Christine Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said: "The Bush administration and the Republican Congress have taken and will continue to take steps to enhance benefits for our veterans."

Evidently not as promised by this administration and this congress.

**********************************************

[BilltheCat]

what else could you expect? It has never been different. Go back to the Bonus soldiers whom Patton ran over with heavy trucks and tanks. That sure was nice treatment of vets.

Now we have cost cutting measures of the least important people in America to the gov't: Vets.

the VA is the best weapon the Communists ever had.