Hegseth: Sen. Sanders’ socialist agenda holding up help for America’s veterans
Our buddy, Pete Hegseth, the director of Concerned Veterans for America sends us a link to his opinion piece in Fox News. Here are some excerpts;
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. The definition of insanity in Washington is when, despite painfully obvious facts and experiences, ideologically-slavish legislators insist the “solutions” (read: more money) that they’ve tried for years will finally solve persistent problems.
The latest personification of such insanity is Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the self-proclaimed socialist who also happens to be the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs (VA) committee.
[…]
First, Sen. Sanders introduced an expansive $30 billion veterans omnibus bill in February that foisted substantially more responsibilities onto the VA, flooding a system that was already overloaded. But, for the first time in decades — thanks to the efforts of reform-minded Senators and outside groups — the bill was defeated on the Senate floor. A clear message was sent: bigger doesn’t mean better.
Second came the public VA scandal in late April, when brave whistleblowers in Phoenix came forward and started the ongoing cascade of revelations that became the national disgrace known as the VA scandal.
A department that had been lavished with substantially more resources under this administration — roughly 60 percent more funding since 2009 — was unable to see patients promptly, and worse, was caught falsifying records to protect executive bonuses and hide the truth that veterans were dying as a result.
The reaction was strong and swift on Capitol Hill, with a common refrain: VA does not have a resource problem, it has a culture problem.
Even President Obama echoed this sentiment last month, saying, “before we start spending more money [at VA], our first job is to take care of some basic management issues that can be fixed.”
Shortly thereafter, accountability and veterans choice legislation overwhelmingly passed the House and the Senate.
Which brings us back to our favorite socialist, Bernie Sanders. Those House and Senate bills are now before a conference committee, in which — as the Senate VA chairman — Bernie Sanders has a large role. But, rather than negotiate in good faith to hammer out strong VA reform legislation that would finally hold VA executives accountable and finally give veterans the choice to see private doctors if they wait too long, Sanders is doing the only thing he knows how to do: throwing money at the problem. It’s insane, but he’s doing it.
In the face of overwhelming evidence, and an urgent crisis for our nation’s veterans, Bernie Sanders is insisting on $17.6 billion in additional VA funding—to hire more staff, build more facilities, and upgrade IT infrastructure.
Worse, the billions in spending he’s requesting is currently justified by three pages—three!—of information provided by the VA itself.
[…]
Even if the additional spending Sanders is requesting is valid, it does not address immediate crisis of care and should be managed through the regular budgeting cycle. Moreover, why should we build more capacity in a system that is failing, instead of finding immediate ways for veterans to get the care they need?
Simple solutions need to come first: like longer hours at VA clinics, asking certain doctors to see more than a handful of patients per day, and giving veterans private choice could address urgent needs. …
[…]
A clean reform bill, one that addresses accountability and choice—is within reach. Groups like mine will be fighting for that reform, and still believe the right deal can still be struck. …
I’ve disliked Bernie Sanders since the late eighties when he was a carpetbagger, flatlander mayor of Burlington, Vermont where I taught ROTC. Now, he’s faced with a dilemma – the only real solution to reforming the VA is cleaning house and tossing out the deadwood, but in order to do that, Sanders would have to turn his back on the union, a socialist’s base. So, veterans are going to lose, because veterans count less than union members. And America is looking at a crashed airliner this week, instead of veterans.
Go kick some commie ass, Pete.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
and the people of Vermont keep on electing that ass.
We the People are really the problem when it comes to these “life time appoitnees”… err I mean Senators and Represenatives we keep on electing.
The political class only wants to spend other peoples money, it doesn’t matter if it works or not, just do it because some interest group will benefit(not the target of the spending, that is inconsequntial regardless of agency or cause). In turn the interest will do whatever they can to herd the sheep to the voting booth to vote for their guy.
Too often it’s “those bastards in Congress/Senate/whatever” (except of course our guy, who is a nice guy – I met him at a local fundraiser, and he ASURED ME he has my interests at heart and I think all those muckraking rumors of him being a pederast and serial philanderer are just rumors spread by the others guys….) One way or the other, Walt Kelly was right, and the enemy is us.
Yep.
The fact that the Democrats made him chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs committee is a poke in the eye to veterans. The only additional funding that the VA needs is to procure flame throwers.
[Nice memories of the old UVM days, living on the left coast of New England.]
Okay, I’m confused. What do unions have to do with the VA?
They protect good employees, but they also protect and often reward shitty ones. That’s really the problem with the VA. They have a lot of apathetic and lazy employees who just go through the motions and collect a paycheck. I think that is what Jonn was getting at.
Good employees get punished, and bad ones get protected is more like how it works here. Even with the Union, there are still powerful cliques from the pre OPM rules and regulations governing federal hiring practices (which are still abused, bent, and twisted in order to hire the pre determined candidate).
Classic socialist.
There is no problem that can’t be fixed with other people’s money!
How many vets are there? And wouldn’t that ’emergency funding’ better spent if they simply authorized and paid for something Tricare Prime for 2 years for every vet not already enrolled?
Just did the math, at a conservative $600/year (Family) or $300/year Individual: You could give 14,666,667 vets Tricare Prime Family or 29,333,334 vets Tricare Prime Individual for 2 full years while the VA got their act together.
Sounds like I much better solution/use of the money to me.
Isnala: that pays the TRICARE enrolement fee. Now, where is the other 99+% of the cost going to come from?
The $300 to $600 TRICARE enrollment fee is hardly the only cost incurred for TRICARE. Over and above that, it costs Uncle Sam a sh!tload to staff and operate military medical facilities.
That cost amounted to $49+ billion in FY2014 (see chart, p5 of linked document).
Almost none of that cost is captured by the TRICARE annual fees. And there’s no way in hell the existing military medical system has anything remotely approaching the capacity to absorb that many additional patients, anyway.
Adding 20M or so non-retirees to the military medical care system IMO would likely double or triple the current cost of military medical care. That isn’t viable, and it isn’t gonna happen.
Again I was more using it as an example. And in some areas Balitmore/Washington area for example you opt out of the mtf and go with USFH (Johns Hopkins). Also did say my idea was perfect, but paying for commercial insurance is would be a better use of the funds and help get treatment faster than waiting on the VA to fix itself and staff up.
According to Census numbers there are 22,676,149 Vets. This means that the above idea would be able to cover ALL Vets with health care for the next two years while the VA got its act together.
Nope, NO GO. Tricare is a EARNED benefit intended for longevity retirees. What you’re proposing is to put the people who served three or fours years on the same level as those of us who put in 20+. And if you think it would take the VA only two years to fix the Health Care side of it’s operation, you are living in dreamland. That would set a precedent that the Armed Forces would never recover from. Why stay in until retirement when you can have the same benefits after only one enlistment?? We would end up with a military force of E-3/E-4s,0-1/02s,defending our nation. Do you really want that?
No I don’t. Which is why I said temporary. Also I used Tricare cauae I could pull the numbers real quick. I was just trying to illistrate that the money could be used to just pay for private inssurance temporarily until they could perform a major VA overhaul.
I understand your intent, but that would just be like putting a band-aid on a sucking chest wound. Big government doesn’t do anything on a temporary basis once they get their policies established,there is no going back. Many of us stayed in until retirement not because of the retired pay,medical,PX and Commissary,etc. We did it because we loved what we were doing,we did it to insure that those who followed were well trained and competent in their duties and they would in turn do the same to those that followed them. Continuity is the name of the game. Armed Forces without an NCO corps are doomed,and it does take dedicated individuals to be NCOs/CPOs, not “one and done” types.
As one of those soon to be retirees I agree compleetly. Just putting it out there more for brain storming than anything else.
Sorry folks, but I don’t want your Tri-Care. Didn’t earn it, don’t want it for 2 years then go back to the same fucked up system that butchered me in 2001. What I want is what is being held up in the Senate due to Bernie’s bullshit. I want a choice. I’m 170% (only get paid at the 100% of course but that’s my combined) SC combat veteran who pays for Blue Cross Blue Shield so I don’t have to use the VA. The bill gives SC vets a choice. Why should I pay for Tri-Care, BC/BS, or anything else when I earned FREE HEALTH CARE. Everything including dental. (I know it’s not really “free” because I also have to write a check to the IRS every year.) I’ve been saying this for years, 50-90% SC get a card for everything but dental. 100% everything including dental. 40%-0% what they are service connected for. A card they can use at any doctor/hospital of their choosing. Non-service connected veterans can continue to use the VA for free or have to pay some sort of co-payment for a choice. The VA was set up for Service Connected veterans. When it was opened for everyone Clinton took the credit but didn’t fund the onslaught of veterans that could then use the VA. The system is screwed and the bill before congress is a good way to do it. None of the “for 2 years” bullshit. But, as someone said, we have the war in Gaza and an airliner shot down to deal with. Time to put vets on the back burner again.
VA medical system doesn’t need overhauled, it needs to be destroyed. Use the money from closing these slaughter houses to give Veterans care of their choice. Overhaul the rating system. CHAMPVA and VA Loans work just fine, let them continue those. It’s medical and benefits that need to be eliminated and totally reformed.
22,676,149 Vets.
Man – the damage we could do if we all actually voted…(and the politicans thought we would).
The catch is we are all over the place so our votes tend to get nullified by the low information voters. But yah if we all ever decided to really organize it could be a nice wake up call.
Carpetbagger, flatlander.
You just described half of VT, NH, and ME.
In Vermont most of our flatlander stay in one area their version of the Green Zone in Iraq. They don’t leave unless they must and tell the rest of our state we need wind turbines on all of ridge lines as long as they cant see them from their million dollar condo. I enjoy it when the flatlanders complain about what state they come from then try to change the Northeast to be just like the shit whole they left. Go figure.
P.S Pill Monkyazz is a big fat liar!
Thank you for clearing up something for me. I always thought the (I-Vt) stood for Idiot – vermont. It always made more sense for me.
But…but…but….Liberals keep telling me how much Bernie Sanders loves veterans and how much the GOP keeps screwing us by stopping his insane legislation……
I never thought I would say this, but I wish LBJ was still President. Now, that guy knew how to make congress work. I can hear it now.
LBJ: “Now harry, what’s this shit about the damn VA. Boy you need to get off the pot and pass this overhaul thing I sent over there. Now this is what you are going to do, Get that thing up for a vote and pass it right now. I’m not pissing in your ear Senator, if that thing is not passed today. the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository will be open tomorrow morning.” Harry Reid: Yes Sir Mister President sir, and give my best to Lady Bird.”