Government shutdown & the VA
The Washington Times reports that Congress passed the latest of a long stream of stop gap bills to continue funding the federal government without actually passing a budget. However, the bill delays Obamacare for a year, which has prompted the White House to announce that the bill is DOA, because you know, the word “compromise” isn’t in their vocabulary as anything that the rest of us would recognize. They delayed the healthcare bill in regards to employers, but not for the rest of us.
Aided by some Democrats, the GOP passed legislation to repeal a widely despised Obamacare tax on medical devices, to halt the entire health law for a year, and to ensure troops get paid even if the government shuts down.
The votes send the spending bill back to the Senate, though Majority Leader Harry Reid called the moves “pointless” and has already ruled out negotiating on any of the Obamacare measures. He said he will not accept any strings attached to a bill to keep the government open past the midnight Monday deadline.
Our buddy, Austin Wright at Politico writes that the House bill contains a provision to keep paying the troops and the DoD civilians who support them;
The GOP unveiled a bill on Saturday that would ensure service members continue getting paid if Congress is unable to pass a bill to fund the government past midnight Monday, when the fiscal year ends and current appropriations expire.
Continue ReadingThe measure would also ensure continued pay for civilian employees of the Defense Department and Pentagon contractors who “are providing support to members of the Armed Forces.”
The Washington Post writes that if the standoff continues for a few weeks, Veterans’ Administration won’t be able to pay the veterans who depend on them;
During the telephone briefing, the leadership of the House and Senate Veterans Affairs committees were told that VA will run out of money to make compensation and pension payments if a partial shutdown is drawn out for weeks, according to aides to two members of Congress.
The briefing, which was provided by VA congressional affairs, represents a significant change from what the members had previously been told, and from the information the VA has released to the public, according to congressional officials.
Some expressed concern during the briefing that veterans had not been given adequate information to prepare for a possible disruption in payments that many depend upon. Some veterans live check to check, they noted.
Yeah, well, veterans haven’t been given adequate information because no one is talking to us. You’ll notice that the VA’s Ebenefits website is down today for maintenance. But there was nothing about the government shutdown when it was working before 9am today. So, yeah, nice dodge, there VA, but if we’re not getting timely information, it’s because you haven’t bothered to give us any.
“This is a big reason why it’s critical that the House join with the Senate to act quickly and keep the government open without any political games,” said Sen. Patty Murray, (D-Wash.), who is chairman of the Senate budget committee. “Our nation’s heroes, who are already waiting too long for the benefits they deserve, shouldn’t be held at the mercy of gridlock and dysfunction in Washington, D.C.”
In other words, we’re being held hostage once again – and this time it’s to save the credibility of that broke-dick Obamacare BS.
Category: Military issues, Veterans Issues, Veterans' Affairs Department
Amazing, really–the Dems passed Obamacare, got their dicks smacked for it, then claim that it’s the REPUBLICANS who are holding the government (and the people) hostage by refusing to fund this disaster.
I read the statements from both (Dem) Congresscritters in my state. They could have been written by the same person, and both hit the SAME EXACT TALKING POINTS. Read one, you read the other.
Yet we haven’t had a budget in almost five years, the GOP in the House passes one, it’s DOA in the Senate because Senator Reid won’t even let it come up for debate, but it’s the REPUBLICANS who are holding the process hostage?
Just effin insane.
“This is a big reason why it’s critical that the House join with the Senate to act quickly and keep the government open without any political games,” said the Senator who, along with the regime, has been playing political games ever since The Won has been in office, and not doing a budget.
Obviously, it’s more important to feed their f$#!@#ing egos than it is to do their jobs for taxpayers who voted for them and vets who defended them.
What’s next? Social Security, too?
Here’s a little tidbit, courtesy of Eric Holder and USNews & World Report: Despite the inability of our Congress critters and bodaprez to play nice in the same sandbox, there is $100 million ++ available to bail out and fix up the city of Detroit, MI. You know: the city that declared bankruptcy a couple months ago.
I kid you not. http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2013/09/26/obama-aides-mich-leaders-to-discuss-detroit-help
But they can’t (won’t) pay vets and other people what they are owed.
Mid-term elections are coming up soon. Remember all of this, because he who shitteth upon you can be likewise shitteth upon by you.
Ex-PH2
At this point, does it really matter about SocSec? The SocSec Fund has been raided to the point of empty. What you’re being paid from is a bucketful of worthless IOUs.
Maybe this will force them to re-examine certain government funded contractors before they pay them.
@5 – BWoodman, yes, but the actual funds souce is still the same. It’s NOT the Social Security Administration. It’s the funding pool that is the so-called budget. I’m just waiting for the ‘no Social Security payments’ announcement to show up. That will truly kill some poltiical careers.
Hmmm…. I guess I’d better work harder, then. It’s kind of like being told that you and a bunch of other people are going to be fired, for no reason at all. You start looking for another job right away.
Geez! I detest politicians more and more every day. They are SO much worse than they were in the 20th century.
Well here’s my take on it, let it go. If it is going to be a disaster, then let it fall on it’s own. The Reb. made their
case now let it go, you do not have the votes. If this hole
thing fall apart over the next year you should keep the house
and pick up the senate, then you can make common sense
changes, let it go for now.
They’re NOT going to let welfare and SSI checks be held up (That would inconvenience WAY too many 0bamites), but Veterans? B. Hussein 0bama & Co. NEVER pass up an opportunity to s**t on us!!
DEMOCRAT, the party of perversion, corruption, and hypocrisy!!!
This is utter bullshit, and they say it every single time that this idiocy occurs… that Veterans and Social Security recipients will not get paid. They can pay us, if they want to that is. But holding an axe over our fucking heads after all they put us through already is just fucking disgusting. My bill payments have already gone out or will be going out from my expected check. Yup this could screw me all to hell if they pull that stunt and do not pay us. Car payment, the rent money…
If I remember correctly, and I believe I do, then even with a government shutdown, payments to SS, SSI, SSD, and veteran’s disability are already in the treasury and are required to be paid.
Pit’s a crying fuckin’ shame that the President and Congresscritters’ paychecks AREN’T suspended during a shutdown, they ought to be locked to their desks and only given bread & water until they do what they’re supposed to!!
Not just veterans getting inadequate information. So are Civilian employees. 3 days prior to October 1st and people around here are getting emails that say:
Active Duty: Come to work
Civilians: Come to work, plan for furloughs will be worked out after arrival
AGRs: work as planned
TRs: Don’t even bother to show up to work
Stuff like this is why people don’t like working for the government, feels like not just veterans, but everyone is having their chains yanked by this BS.
Not postive about that, AW1 Tim. Social Security is indeed a separate fund on paper (the assets of which have been “loaned” to the government and backed by Treasury debt), so I’m pretty sure Social Security will continue to pay out – assuming the automated systems continue to function and send them out. But I believe VA compensation in general is paid from annual appropriations, just like military and civilian pay. VA payments could well be stopped until things shake out.
Dunno for sure either way. But if it’s a “no authority to spend Federal money” situation due to (a) no appropriation plus (b) no continuing resolution, then that’s a very different situation than most we’ve seen lately. That hasn’t happened in 17 years, and I don’t remember if VA payments were affected then or not.
Has Putin approved Obama’s decision? Funny that Obama will negotiate with Iran, but never Republicans.
Don’t pay Vets and SS recipients if you don’t fund Obamacare… that’s OK with the Donks and RINOs. These are the same assholes that try to balance the budget on the backs of the military, retirees and Vets.
Screw them and their “gift” to the American people…
@14 – Hondo, no, 17 years ago, payments to vets were not stopped.
The funding, as you said, is an annual thing, not quarterly, which means that VA payments should be funded through the end of 2013. The COLA is voted on in December, to be funded in January.
Remember, it’s not just recent vets that get the brunt of this. It’s also the remaining WWII and Korean War vets that get hit by it, too.
If these maroons don’t sort out their differences, well — as you guys like to say “BOHICA”. Like I said, mid-term elections are coming up. Maybe it’s time to fire their asses once and for all.
Maybe it’s just as well that these panic-attack messages are going out in the media. People sometimes tend to become apathetic unless they think something they need is threatened, and that stirs them up.
However, I have not seen this much sheer stupidity in the federal government since Jimmy Carter’s time – even Nixon was not THIS stupid – and everyone of these clowns needs a lesson in humility, even if it’s nothing more than opposition campaign ads that point out all the things they do that are stupid, like their free rides in government airplanes, paid for by you and me.
#18 Ex-PH2: this isn’t sheer stupidity. This is about the 2014 Election. The histrionics are only for election purposes. The headlines for newspapers, magazines, and their online presences, blogs, telecasts, and shows like the View are all ready written, and as Dan Pfeiffer, WH Comms Director (and central coordinator for this message along with David Brock with Media Matters for America) said:
“Speaking on CNN’s “The Lead,” Pfeiffer was asked why President Obama wouldn’t negotiate with Republicans by accepting some spending cuts in exchange for raising the debt limit.
“We are for cutting spending,” Pfeiffer said. “What we’re not for is negotiating with people with a bomb strapped to their chest. We’re not going to do that.”
Pfeiffer called the House GOP’s list of items it wants in exchange for raising the country’s borrowing limit “ransom demands.”
He said the GOP was trying to force the president to implement “the Romney agenda,” and threatened to “blow up the economy” if they don’t get their way.
Pfeiffer also blamed Republicans for not negotiating over the looming government shutdown.”
Source: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/324981-white-house-adviser-compares-republicans-to-terrorists#ixzz2gJXZapZW
So the message to America is that Republicans are terrorists. Obama is negotiating with Iran and the Taliban, and is supporting the Muslim Brotherhood through his brother and Hillary does as well through Abedin – but Republicans are terrorists and will not be negotiated with.
That’s a good point, DaveO. But I still see sheer, egotistical stupidity on both sides of that fence, no matter who is butting heads with whom. Neither of them gives a damn who gets hurt as long as it isn’t them. They still get their paychecks, you see.
This is the kind of stupidity that can cost most people their jobs. Bodaprez is simply not used to being told ‘No’. He’s never been told ‘No’ before. He doesn’t understand why anyone could possibly turn him down.
This entire boondoggle is based on personality conflicts and not much else. As long as they themselves don’t feel threatened by job or income loss, they’ll all stay as stubborn – and stupid – as goats in the chickweed patch.
And you’re right about the mid-term elections, too. They all want to look ‘good’ to voters.
Welll, I’m a voter, and I’m not impressed with this childish, spoiled snotty brat stuff. They just do not care unless they can get a vote out of it.
@7 “I’m just waiting for the ‘no Social Security payments’ announcement to show up. That will truly kill some political careers.” It might get so bad that more than their careers are killed. One can only hope.
Ex-PH2: you’re blaming Republicans for engaging in politics while they are giving Obama exactly what he wants: a 1 year delay in Obamacare. Obama will veto any legislation that delays Obamacare. Yet, Obama will use executive power to unConstitutionally alter a law (Obamacare) to suit his purpose (http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-08-14/opinions/41408610_1_affordable-care-act-president-obama-employer-mandate).
This isn’t a ‘damn them all’ moment. The GOP has given Obama a win, so why are the Dems proceeding to execute the hostages? The Islamists in Kenya were more humane.
DaveO, you aren’t paying attention. I AM blaming all of them because they have all had since 2010 to get these things sorted out. That’s 3 long years. Intead, they have all, without exception, ramped up a squabble at the last minute, when it should have been settled long ago.
There is NO excuse for what ANY of them are doing, period.
They are ALL at fault, not just one party or the other.
Well good thing I am not using my BAH from Voc Rehab to pay the rent or anything….oh wait… yea I am. Well time to go find a job or 4.
I know this is an unpopular fact, but my coverage and deductible improved while my premium went down and costs decreased. I have an employer provided plan. It is not a Cadillac. So all nots bad.
Good for you and your employer, SIGO. My experience was substantially (like 20%) higher premiums with no significant change in coverage.
— break —
Ex-PH2: the government is funded on a fiscal year basis. The government’s fiscal year ends on 30 Sep. Unlike past years, this year there’s no continuing resolution to keep things operating.
Further: according to the VA, they have enough funding on hand at present to keep things operating for a short while (funds from this year already committed for next month’s benefits payments would be my guess). However, if things are shut down for around 30 days – then yes, the VA says that VA compensation payments will also stop until new funding is provided.
http://www.navytimes.com/article/20130928/BENEFITS04/309280012/VA-Extended-shutdown-could-stop-disability-pay
SIGO–lucky you. I’m looking at a doubling of premiums, assuming I can even keep anything remotely similar to the coverage I have now.
I guess there is one downside. I can’t use 24 hr pharmacies. This is more of an ExpressScripts issue. I could use 24 hr pharmacies if I paid for the more expensive plan. Not important to me though
I guess my memory is just getting worse and worse. But didn’t the Dem’s announce with great fanfare in 2009 that the VA was funded at least a year in advance? ISTR Bob Filner then Chairman of the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs made a huge deal out of that saying the VA would never again be held hostage due to budget battles. Oh well either my memory is gone, or another Democrat lied to us.
Well, the messages are getting completely mixed now. This is the latest on VA benefits, via US News:
VETERANS SERVICES
Most services offered through the Department of Veterans Affairs will continue because lawmakers approve money one year in advance for the VA’s health programs. Veterans would still be able to visit hospitals for inpatient care, get mental health counseling at vet centers or get prescriptions filled at VA health clinics. Operators would still staff the crisis hotline and claims workers would still process payments to cover disability and pension benefits. But those veterans appealing the denial of disability benefits to the Board of Veterans Appeals will have to wait longer for a decision because the board would not issue any decisions during a shutdown.
What I see is an ego trip on both sides, neither of which gives a damn about anything but having their own way. They have had since 2010 to solve this problem and did not, and now they won’t even try to compromise?
This is an ‘in your face’ to vets, from both sides, because there is untapped funding (block grants) to send to bankrupt Detroit, to the tune of $100 million++. I’m sure there is other money lurking in the cash drawer that we haven’t heard about. And while yes, I get the point that the VA’s funding is based on the fiscal year, I see no excuse for stiffing vets. Like I said, what’s next? Social security is the only thing not being sniped at, but that does not say it won’t be, since new claims won’t be processed.
The future is rooted in the present.
Bit about Bad administration under Carter, ever hear of a guy called Ollie north? I believe a retired full bird. Check into his history about then, I believe a few good guys died because of his actions then. Called and accident.
I believe a group here called wall street had a bit to do with the delay of the employer mandate. They were going to kill our economy even more was the word put out buy our Faux News. Might have been a while back, so you may have missed the article before the propaganda campaign.
Yo Jim,
If you have anything to back up your statements, feel free to post them here. Telling folks to look up stuff isn’t going to hack it on this board. That’s the sort of crapweasel things the Paultards and Obamabots post.
Yeah, Jim, Oliver North doesn’t have anything to do with government shutdown. If you don’t get that part, you’re not paying attention. Carter didn’t shut down the government, FYI, he was a well-meaning, dopey, good ol’ boy who bit off more than he could chew. He rose to his level of incompetence – that’s the Peter Principle at work, just so you know.
I’m not impressed by the refusal of Harry Reid, the patron saint of hookers everywhere, to refuse to negotiate or discuss anything at all now. Nor am I impressed with Boehner’s attempts at deflecting the fight onto separate legislation.
It’s the taxpayers’ (my) sandbox that they’re squabbling over and they all need to be taught a lesson about who pays them – the taxpayers.
The Kaiser Health Care poll clearly shows that Americans in general do not like Obamacare, but neither do they want this kind of fight to make changes in it, per WaPo article on 8/28/13: …defunding Obamacare, the big Republican cause of the moment, is even more unpopular. By a margin of 57 percent to 36 percent, poll respondents did not approve of “cutting off funding to implement” ACA.
None of those sorry jerks are listening to taxpayers and WE are the people whose taxes go into their paychecks. They work for us, they answer to us, and they seem to have forgotten that in this squabble.
They’re nothing more than a bunch of little kids in a pissing match over who gets to play and who is going to take his balls and go home.
Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends
We’re so glad you could attend
Come inside! Come inside!
Same drama, same time, every year…one of the more interesting ironies of the current political age in the US is congress’s continually dismal approval ratings while the electorate keeps putting 90% of them back into office.
Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results….so most of the sh1tbags in congress have been there for years, we’ve been having difficulty for years but we keep electing the same guys hoping that this will be the year they all decide to stop playing at politics and actually start serving the public.
Why would they suddenly care about the electorate or veterans or the United States? There’s no downside to not doing their jobs, we keep electing them. I think we are getting exactly what we deserve as a nation of lazy, apathetic slobs who can’t be bothered to actually think about making some real changes. Consequently, we have a lazy, apathetic government that can’t be bothered to do some work that actually create a substantive change from the previous year. We’ve become a monolithic enterprise moving at a glacial pace trying to solve problems that move at the speed of sound…the gap between the two only gets larger as the glacier can’t possibly keep up….instead of more ice we need some fire, but I doubt the morons that populate the nation in ever increasing numbers can be bothered to look up from the latest episode of the Kardashians or Real Housewives to actually move their lazy 4sses long enough to put some fire back into the government. They’ll just keep sitting their freezing and bitching about the cold, stupid sons of bitches…
I only see Fox News whenever it just happens to be on at the gym, but whenever someone uses the Liberal catch phrase “Faux News” they loose all credibility.
Hey Jim. Were you previously Vietnam War Protester?
Jim’s a troll douchebag….nothing of merit in any of those words, no credible voice thus no credible point.
Faux News is about as amusing a name as Commie News Network….as if disagreeing with a point of view by the immature act of name calling somehow adds any validity to your claims. The reality is it lessens your argument and reveals your inability to argue the merits, if any, of your perceptions. Jim, you should be sorely disappointed in the public education you received as it has clearly inhibited your ability to express your point of view in any articulate manner. Perhaps you should focus your efforts on aiding the folks in your hometown in reforming education so others won’t have to suffer needlessly like you do from a lack of formal education of value.
If the full Congress (including Senate) is not doing their jobs, don’t pay ’em. Since most of them are independently wealthy – freeze their assets. No pay, no benefits – let ’em get a taste of how the other .00001% lives. Same for Biden and Obama (wonder how Obama would feel about guns if he didn’t have the Secret Service lads around… in DC? Hah!) But definitely… they aren’t doing their jobs, they get NO pay. It’s called an incentive plan.
In case any of you have forgotten, this 2009 photo of SEN Harry Reid should remind you of what his REAL opinion of taxpayers. (Disregard the caption.)
This pic from Funny Pictures, Political Humor
David, I completely agree with you, but Nancy Piglosi said that it would be demeaning to the position of congress to stop their pay. You know, because the Congress can do so much without the support of their constituents.
I personally believe that they should be forced to reap what they sow. Let them all have Obamacare rather than the legislative health care program. Pay them minimum wage for their hours of work. Force them to live in government housing while they serve. Give them only thirty days of paid vacation for their service. Make them eat in a government/military mess hall. Oh, and the first people to lose their pay and benefits if this happens is them. The ones who couldn’t pull their heads out of an R or D long enough to see what was best for the country.
But that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.
The best way to deal with Reid and his crony’s, is going to have to be by appling pressure on Steve Wynn, owner of Wynn Resorts. He leads the coalition of Nevadans that veraciously support him, its been his long standing position to keep Reid where he is as long as they possibly can. Erode the power that his group wields somehow, will make getting Reid out of the Senate very possible and the others are going to take notice immediately.
OK, Jim, I just tuned into “Faux News” to see what you are talking about. There are several people I never heard of and am not in the slightest bit interested in seeing discussing Lindsay Lohan and Oprah. Appears to be something extremely important. Then cut to commercial.
Seems like topics which are right up your alley, no? Not mine.
These are the latest ‘blurbs’ (short news releases) regarding the gov’t shutdown:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-rep-exasperated-with-giddy-house-conservatives-as-shutdown-looms
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/senate-democrats-blast-house-gop-s-contraception-ploy
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-rep-i-don-t-care-what-john-mccain-thinks-video
Like I said, I blame ALL of them for this. This entire episode of ego trips, self-centered power grabs and recriminatory finger pointing comes only at the expense of taxpayers and vets — you and me. These people are supposed to work FOR us, but you can see quite plainly, it’s not about US, it’s all about THEM.
Apparently, it’s being called a “funding hiatus” according to the emails I’m getting today. By the way, sorry, I’m slow on the blogging and getting to your emails today. If you think about what goes into effect tomorrow, you’ll know why I’m on my own hiatus today.
It IS going to happen. We have all been told how and when.
Nancy and Harry are MIA and my TSP 401K has taken a beating today.
Essentially, we have been told don’t come into tomorrow … telework half day … and that is it. Don’t work till your told to return!
The latest from the internet: http://news.msn.com/us/health-law-challenge-threatens-government-shutdown
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for this:
For all the controversy about other matters, the legislation in question is a spending bill — and there was little if any disagreement about the spending-related issues.
The House and Senate have agreed to fix spending for a wide swath of federal programs at an annual level of $986 billion.
Without separate legislation to make further reductions, across-the-board cuts would automatically take effect early next year that would reduce the level to $967 billion.
I’ll keep up on it, but I’m on something else right now, also.
Our DoD civilians have been told to come in tomorrow and they will find out what is going to happen then.
I wonder if all Obama phones and EBT cards will work during gummint shut down?