Republicans Don’t Care About Veterans

Áine on April 13th, 2005 filed in Politics

Armed Forces Collage S.AMDT.344
Amends : H.R.1268
Sponsor : Sen Murray, Patty [WA]

The vote, which fell along party lines, defeated the Murray-Akaka amendment offered by Sens. Pat Murray (D-WA) and Daniel Akaka (D-HI). The Amendment would have increased veterans’ health care funding by $1.975 billion. Additionally, the amendment would have provided $840 million to reverse current budget shortfalls and enable VA hospitals to prepare for an influx of new veterans from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Vote Summary

Vote Date : April 12, 2005, 03:26 PM
Required For Majority : 3/5
Vote Result : Motion Rejected
Amendment Number : S.Amdt. 344 to H.R. 1268 (Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005)
Statement of Purpose : To provide $1,975,183,000 for medical care for veterans.

Vote Counts:
YEAs 46
NAYs 54

The vote fell along mostly party lines, with the lone Republican YEA vote coming from Sen. Arlen Spectre (R-PA). (Roll call vote is listed in the extended entry.) I’m proud to say that the Michigan Senators, Levin and Stabenow, voted YEA along with every other Democrat.

Now, as for the Republicans: what was that about “supporting our troops”? This is what they’re fighting and dying for?

YEAs — 46

Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Clinton (D-NY)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Wyden (D-OR)

NAYs — 54

Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burns (R-MT)
Burr (R-NC)
Chafee (R-RI)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
DeWine (R-OH)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Frist (R-TN)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Santorum (R-PA)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Talent (R-MO)
Thomas (R-WY)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)

Technorati Tags: Medicine, Military, Politics, Republicans, Veterans

2 Responses to “Republicans Don’t Care About Veterans”

Dale Says:
April 14th, 2006 at 7:58 pm
I am an independent but for your information this administration has funded more for the Veterans than any previous administration.
We need to cut the pensions of our politicians and their self promoting annual raises also.
Aine Says:
April 15th, 2006 at 4:42 am
You’re full of shit, too, because you don’t consider how many facilities for veterans have been closed down, underfunded, programs cut, etc. Every time a military base is closed under realignment plans, it deprives veterans of needed services, too. There isn’t a military facility around me for at least 500 miles, yet when I was medically discharged with my disability, there were at least 3 such places within reasonable driving distance.

Also, as the number of veterans and the wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan return to the U.S. for treatment, the demand for VA and medical care funding and materiel goes up, it doesn’t remain static. You also have to consider the fact that the cost of health care is rising, not only due to inflation, but also due to transportation costs (gas prices) for everything from supplies to utilities to staff, and even transport for veterans.

Veterans’ piddly little compensation checks sure haven’t kept pace with all those cost increases.

You want to cut costs in the government? Then you have to cut pork spending bills, and you have to make the government smaller and more efficient. Instead, what we got with this administration is ever more layers of bureaucracy, larger government, more wasteful spending, more unaccountability, and billions of dollars unaccounted for — among that unaccountable money is $9 BILLION that was “lost” in Iraq. Get them to audit that, it could pay for a lot of veteran programs that are needed.