The Dept. of Veterans Affairs scandal is a violation of the sacred commitment the government has to provide care for the small slice of the population that fights this country’s wars.
Undoubtedly, VA officials responsible for allowing shoddy treatment standards to continue while waiting list time rises should be held accountable.
Yet the Republican effort to pin the disaster on President Obama and VA chief Eric Shinseki is a shameful political maneuver designed to taint the commander-in-chief and torpedo Democratic control of the Senate.
After failing to repeal Obamacare after more than 50 failed votes, the GOP has finally accepted the reality that the President’s signature program isn’t going anywhere until he leaves office and hands the Oval Office to a Republican. Another obstacle: Americans with Obamacare like it.
The GOP had high hopes that replaying the Benghazi probe and skewering former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were winners. But the tide has turned as most politicos predict Benghazi II will go nowhere and could even backfire. Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers, who is retiring, told colleagues the new investigation could lead down the rabbit hole.
Enter, VA scandal. Long-time Senator John McCain has been leading the charge against Obama. Those attacks are ironic. The VA facility in Phoenix ranks as one the 26 hospitals under investigation. Shouldn’t the war hero from Phoenix have known about the problems at his hometown hospital?
Forgetting cheap political hysterics, the VA mess is due to serious budget shortfalls.
William Galston in today’s Wall Street Journal wrote a masterful piece, showing the nub of the problem:
He wrote: “Roughly 42%—$66 billion—of the VA's budget is subject to annual appropriations.. Our inability to agree on a sustainable approach to long-term fiscal policy has led, by default, to a relentless squeeze on discretionary spending that will hobble us at home and abroad.”
Meanwhile, House Armed Services Committee chief Republican Buck McKeon says current prospects for increased funding are dim, though “sometimes miracles happen.”
Congress fought unfunded wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, while dishing out tax cuts. It’s time to pay the bill as waves of veterans from those wars now seek physical and mental care. It’s time to pay the bill.
The budget-cutting-crazed GOP is shameful in blaming the VA scandal on the President. It is a disgraceful dodge of Republican-controlled Congress’ responsibility to pay for the best care for America’s veterans.
Husch Blackwell Strategies has added FleishmanHillard alum Michael Slatin as a principal in its public affairs group.
Rory Cooper, a veteran Republican operative and policy specialist, has joined Teneo’s Washington office as senior managing director in its strategy & communications practice.
Brian Fallon, who served as national press secretary for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential run, is signing on next month as Vice President’s Kamala Harris’ campaign communications director.
TikTok is nothing more than a Chinese propaganda tool that poses “a grave threat to America’s national security and, in particular, impressionable children and young adults,” say two Congressmen who want the platform registered as a foreign agent.
Public Strategies Washington has added Abbie Sorrendino, a former aide to now Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
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