Oh Hell No
Kevin McCarthy is finally out with his proposal for the debt ceiling and veterans will pay for his machinations
Myths and lies
There are myths that live on despite the facts. Some examples include Big Foot, aliens built the pyramids, Atlantis was real, and Republicans love the military and veterans. That last one has plagued the United States for decades along with the corollary that Democrats hate them. I admit freely that in my younger years and during my service I bought into that story as well. I went to West Point during the Reagan Administration when his military build-up was key to ending the Cold War years later. I went to war under both George Bush’s. I was convinced that being a ‘defense hawk’ was a conservative value and was one of the reasons I stayed in the party well beyond my expiration date.
I was wrong.
Michelle Obama changed my mind
For almost a decade I owned a public relations firm dedicated to supporting veteran and military family causes. We worked with all the biggest players in that sector from corporations like The Home Depot to non-profits like Wounded Warrior Project. Our mission was to help the community and support those who were supporting them. I started it as a Republican in 2010 and was skeptical of the new Obama Administration.
When First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, launched the Joining Forces initiative in 2011 I was lightly critical. It seemed at first like an effort to make it look like they supported the military to get ready for the re-election campaign.
I was wrong.
Instead of it being a flash in the pan for the election, or a temporary symbolic effort it grew and continued. I found myself attending events with Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden, hearing their passion for our community, seeing them using their unique platforms to highlight issues and bring people together to solve tough problems like unemployment and suicide. One day I ended up sitting in the First Lady’s office briefing the staff on the efforts of a number of my clients and partners. Later we worked on addressing veterans homelessness which led to an amazing event hosted right in the White House AFTER they election of Trump and as they prepared to leave office. They fought for us until their stuff was moved out of the building.
There was one stretch where I ended up in the front row for about four events in two weeks where Mrs. Obama was speaking. I caught her look down at me once and I swear she must have thought “that guy again?” I was worried the Secret Service would start getting suspicious. We ended up at Fort Campbell for a hiring event and one of my employees dared me to get a “FLOTUS Selfie.” I walked up to the rope line and asked her, and she was like “heck yes” and I took possibly the worst picture ever.
I often joke that Mrs. Obama’s muscular arms broke me of my delusions about who really cared about the military and veterans. She and Dr. Biden were there for us and kept showing up.
When Trump took over many in the military and veterans community begged them to continue the effort. They said they would. Then they didn’t. The closest they came was Second Lady Pence focusing on art therapy for veterans. They didn’t even host the traditional Veterans Day and Memorial Day breakfasts for veterans in the White House. Trump would occasionally hump the flag and a huge swath of the veteran’s community would swoon.
At the Lincoln Project I was one of those who figured out that when Trump said that he got COVID from military and police hugging him he was referring to a closed event they held with Gold Star families from right leaning veterans groups. We found out later he had already tested positive for COVID, but he was literally blaming them for giving him the illness and not the zero social distancing or mask event announcing Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court the day before.
That was at the same time we found he had refused to go to a military cemetery in Europe because the rain would mess up his hair and referred to those buried there as ‘losers and suckers’ to aides. We were never anything but a prop.
But Democrats did the work. They dramatically expanded the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Obama Administration launched an effort to modernize and make the VA more customer focused under VA Secretary, and fellow West Point grad, Bob McDonald who famously gave his personal phone number to veterans needing help with giant organization. When President Biden was elected, Dr. Biden relaunched Joining Forces and is back at it fighting for our military and veterans.
22% isn’t a ‘trim,’ it’s a beheading
I mention this now because Kevin McCarthy has finally released his proposal for lifting the debt ceiling and in classic Republican style one of the biggest impacts in his proposed massive spending cuts targets veterans and our healthcare. It seems we are too expensive now that we are old and broken.
McCarthy rolled out his grand plan at the last minute and it’s a monstrous plan to cut approximately 22% of the federal budget across the board while exempting defense spending, of course. That’s the game they play. Support DOD, and major defense contractors, to pretend to support they military but then ruthlessly cut the programs to take care of millions of veterans who have served their country.
Congressman Chris Deluzio is on to the bullshit.
The VA has a list of what the impact of the cuts would mean:
• Threaten Medical Care for Veterans. The proposal would mean 30 million fewer outpatient visits, and 81,000 jobs lost across the Veterans Health Administration.
• Undermine Access to Telehealth. Access to remote care through telehealth is essential for veterans, particularly in rural areas. By reducing funding for necessary IT infrastructure and support, the proposal would impair VA’s ability to expand video-to-home telehealth services.
• Worsen Wait Times for Benefits. Under the proposal, the Veterans Benefits Administration would eliminate more than 6,000 staff, increasing the disability claims backlog by an estimated 134,000 claims.
• Prevent Construction of Health Care Facilities. The median VA hospital was built nearly 60 years ago – compared to just 13 years ago in the private sector. This proposal would cut up to $565 million for major construction projects, including critical clinical upgrades to hospitals and clinics.
• Undermine the National Cemeteries. The proposal would require VA’s National Cemetery Administration to eliminate approximately 500 staff and delay the opening of 5 new national cemeteries that will serve nearly 1.6 million veterans and eligible family members.
In addition, veterans will see a host of impacts in non-VA programs from homeless veterans housing and job assistance programs to food security. McCarthy’s plan is nothing short of a direct attack on the health and support of those who have served and simply asked for the care they were promised by their nation.
They love us when they need us
This has always been the game. They are claiming its simply an effort to reduce the “bloated bureaucracy” then cut the programs like IT meant to reduce that same bureaucracy. When the backlog of veterans claims and wait times for healthcare explode again these same Republicans will turn right around and attack the Biden Administration for not taking care of veterans.
Same broken record every damn time. McCarthy and the Republicans don’t give a damn about veterans unless we can be used as props and reliable votes. We proved in 2020 that our votes aren’t theirs alone as more and more military and veterans move away from the GOP as they see the way we are used then tossed aside. Don’t keep falling for Trump and his followers humping the flag as proof of their love for the troops. Make them prove it.
Call your Congress Member. Tell them you aren’t going to accept the destruction of the progress that has finally been made to honor the service of those who served for our nation.
We aren’t their toys for their political games
Note:
The latest ‘On Democracy with FPWellman’ podcast is now on the Meidastouch Network with guest former CIA officer John Sipher. It’s a fascinating discussion of the issues surrounding our intelligence community and the lessons he learned watching authoritarian movements overseas.
Hi Fred - This is so egregious. There was definitely an uptick in services under the Obama administration. A large new med center was built in our area, and my dad's services saw a dramatic turn for the better - much shorter wait times, easier processing, no endless waiting. It's just pathetic to see how those that these services don't affect just don't care.
You, sir, are a true patriot, unlike the cosplay slobs who have never served a day for their country or, worse, those that have served but have fallen under the spell of nationalist traitors like MTG. My dad is no longer here, so I'm glad he doesn't have to witness all of this, because it would have killed him sooner.
BTW, there are no bad pictures of you. You're always smiling, so that makes every picture wonderful!
Cheers, sir, and to better days ahead.
Lisa
I joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1981 in the era where President Reagan professionalized the military with abundant resources to win the Cold War.
The way Trump exploited the military was reprehensible. His family history of draft-dodging, comments about military killed in action as “losers and suckers”, using troops as photo props, and failure to honor or war dead in Europe cannot be forgiven.
Today, the malice toward the military has spread across the Republican party. Attacking the Chairman of the joint chief of staff, spreading lies about a weak military, and now introducing a budget that would strangle veterans benefits just when it’s needed most after 20-years of the global war on terrorism.
I have disassociated myself from a Republican party that has been captured by a pro-Russian, fascist group of insurrectionists who systematically want to kill our democratic republic. This proposal by McCarthy is case and point.