Bush’s Record on VA Funding

[mudwhistle]

Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs? It stains the legacies of presidents as far back as John F. Kennedy

Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs? - NationalJournal.com

Just being narrow-minded and partisan won't fix the problem. The problem requires a bi-partisan solution. Bumper stickers won't solve it.

Obama gave speeches 7 years ago about the VA, and he's done nothing but let it get worse.

When will you liberals ever admit that he's been screwing off and not taking care of business?

The problems in the VA are centered around a few things; The size of it is a major problem. Because of it's size, it is also inefficient. Also, instead of making sure there are enough qualified doctors to treat patients, they make sure that they have enough office furniture for paper-pushers. They support the bureaucracy but let service go down the toilet. They also don't demand that their doctors work as hard as they would if they had their own practices. They see half as many patients than a private doctor would see. On average only 2 a day. This is why the waiting time for patients are so long.

In a nut-shell, management at VA hospitals sucks. The current VA secretary has no experience running hospitals, only military units. One needs to be an expert in every aspect of the command you are in charge of. He was a poor choice. An honorable man who is in over his head.

 

[Darkwind]

the treatment of veterans returning from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan has been a national disgrace, highlighted most dramatically by the neglect and substandard care given wounded troops at Walter Reed and other military hospitals.

The budget increases that have occurred mostly were enacted over Bush’s opposition or related to the fact that injuries from the Iraq War far exceeded the administration’s rosy projections in early 2003. The Bush team especially underestimated how many cases of post-traumatic stress disorder to anticipate as well as the number of brain injuries, which have been endemic to the Iraq War where insurgents made effective use of “improvised explosive devices,” or IEDs.

Before Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, documents released by the Department of Veterans Affairs said it expected a maximum of 8,000 cases of post-traumatic stress disorder.

However, according to a study released last year by the RAND Institute, there are more than 320,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars suffering from major depression, PTSD and/or traumatic brain injury. The report found that the VA has been and continues to be ill-equipped to deal with these cases when soldiers return from combat, especially after multiple tours.

An Army task force last year also found major flaws in the way the VA treated and cared for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injuries.

Bush’s Record on VA Funding

For his part, Bush stacked the VA with political cronies, such as former Republican National Committee chairman Jim Nicholson, who as VA Secretary defended a budget measure that sought major cuts in staffing for healthcare and at the Board of Veterans Appeals; slashed funding for nursing home care; and blocked four legislative measures aimed at streamlining the backlog of veterans benefits claims.

Of the 84,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder by VA, only half, about 42,000, had their disability claim approved by VA. Instead of expediting PTSD claims, Bush's political appointees at VA actively fought against mental health claims.

Bush's appointees also obstructed scientific research into the causes of Gulf War illnesses dating back 18 years to Operation Desert Storm and opposed medical research on treatment for 210,000 of those veterans.

As for funding, Bush proposed a 0.5 percent budget increase for the VA for fiscal year 2006, which amounted to a “cruel mockery” of Bush’s promises to do everything to support veterans and soldiers, Rep. Lane Evans, D-Illinois, said at the time.

Evans called Bush’s proposed budget increase for the VA “grossly inadequate,” saying it would force the VA to “ration” healthcare to veterans.
VA officials had testified in 2005 that the agency needed at least a 13 percent increase to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of war veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan and others who needed long-term mental health care.

In early 2007, the Washington Post put a spotlight on the human consequences resulting from the combination of Bush’s wars and the budget squeeze.

The Post published a series of articles documenting the substandard conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which is located only 4.7 miles from the White House. Wounded vets were housed in rooms with moldy walls, leaky plumage and an infestation of vermin, underscoring how out of touch Bush had become regarding the nation’s veterans.

In response to complaints that some veterans under VA care were being neglected, Nicholson said in March 2007 that such cases were “anecdotal exceptions.”

“When you are treating so many people there is always going to be a linen towel left somewhere,” he said.

In May 2007, the AP revealed that while Nicholson was pinching pennies on treatment costs and coping with a $1.3 billion budget shortfall, he awarded “$3.8 million in bonuses to top executives in fiscal 2006″ — many as much as $33,000.

Simultaneously, Bush was resisting congressional efforts to beef up the VA’s budget. In May 2007, Bush threatened to veto legislation that sought a 10 percent—$3.2 billion—increase, calling it too expensive. Bush proposed a 2 percent increase, far below what lawmakers and VA officials said was needed to treat a dramatic increase in traumatic brain injury and PTSD cases.

After Congress passed the legislation with the higher VA spending, Bush backed down on his veto threat but that was largely due to the fact that every Republican in the Senate with the exception of Jim DeMint of South Carolina, supported the measure.

Amid the growing scandals about substandard VA treatment and inept management, Nicholson resigned in July 2007.

Suicide Epidemic

Even after Nicholson’s resignation, the Department of Veterans Affairs continued to be buffeted by scandals, including a cover-up in an epidemic of veterans’ suicides and attempted suicides.

Last year, internal VA e-mails surfaced that showed how top agency officials tried to conceal the information from the public about the sudden increase in suicides and attempted suicides among veterans that were treated or sought help at VA hospitals around the country.

And last November, internal watchdogs discovered 500 benefits claims in shredding bins at the 41 of the 57 regional VA offices around the country.

Paul Sullivan, the executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, a veterans’ advocacy group that sued the VA in federal court, said attempts by the White House to portray Bush as an advocate for veterans is beyond shameful.

“Bush is the worst failure for our veterans since Hoover,” Sullivan said, expressing shock that the President “would shamefully continue his legacy of lies to the American people as he and his political cronies are forced to leave office on Jan. 20.”

Sullivan disputed some of Bush’s claims as misleading, such as the assertion that he doubled funding for the VA. “However, President Bush failed to disclose that the number of veterans seeking VA healthcare doubled, from 2.7 million to 5.5 million, and that rising healthcare inflation actually resulted in a net decrease in spending per veteran by VA during the past eight years,” he said.

“If not for the intervention of Congress to substantially increase VA funding beyond Bush's inadequate budget requests, especially in the past two years, the situation would have deteriorated from a serious crisis to a catastrophe at VA.”

Read much more:
Consortiumnews.com

You people have had two weeks to distort and deflect this scandal away from Obama, and this lame ass shit is the best you could come up with?




You people are losing it.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs? It stains the legacies of presidents as far back as John F. Kennedy

Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs? - NationalJournal.com

Just being narrow-minded and partisan won't fix the problem. The problem requires a bi-partisan solution. Bumper stickers won't solve it.

It's simple, It's broke, and your guy has known it for over 5 years....he has done nothing to fix it. It is not Bush's fault 5 years later that nothing has been done. It is not bush's fault that the backlog is still there just hidden behind fake numbers. Get a clue...when you screw up fix it don't blame somebody else and pretend it's fixed......

 

[Lakhota]

Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs? It stains the legacies of presidents as far back as John F. Kennedy

Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs? - NationalJournal.com

Just being narrow-minded and partisan won't fix the problem. The problem requires a bi-partisan solution. Bumper stickers won't solve it.

It's simple, It's broke, and your guy has known it for over 5 years....he has done nothing to fix it. It is not Bush's fault 5 years later that nothing has been done. It is not bush's fault that the backlog is still there just hidden behind fake numbers. Get a clue...when you screw up fix it don't blame somebody else and pretend it's fixed......

Partisan narrow minds like yours are part of the problem. The VA problem requires a BI-PARTISAN solution because BOTH parties helped create it.

 

[asterism]

Deserter: Bush's War on Military Families, Veterans, and His Past

Deserter: Bush's War on Military Families, Veterans, and His Past: Ian Williams: 9781560256274: Amazon.com: Books


Bush was a disaster for veterans.

Our nation today: Republicans are terrible, Democrats are worse.

This is an issue that your choice for President made as a campaign promise. Why are you blaming Bush? Bush's fuck-up is one of the reasons Obama won in the first place.

And now things are worse. Why are you still blaming Bush?

 

[tinydancer]

Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs? It stains the legacies of presidents as far back as John F. Kennedy

Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs? - NationalJournal.com

Just being narrow-minded and partisan won't fix the problem. The problem requires a bi-partisan solution. Bumper stickers won't solve it.

It's simple, It's broke, and your guy has known it for over 5 years....he has done nothing to fix it. It is not Bush's fault 5 years later that nothing has been done. It is not bush's fault that the backlog is still there just hidden behind fake numbers. Get a clue...when you screw up fix it don't blame somebody else and pretend it's fixed......

Partisan narrow minds like yours are part of the problem. The VA problem requires a BI-PARTISAN solution because BOTH parties helped create it.

Give it up. Obama owns it. I know he only found out about it on television but he still owns it.

 

[hjmick]

Deserter: Bush's War on Military Families, Veterans, and His Past

Deserter: Bush's War on Military Families, Veterans, and His Past: Ian Williams: 9781560256274: Amazon.com: Books


Bush was a disaster for veterans.

Our nation today: Republicans are terrible, Democrats are worse.

This is an issue that your choice for President made as a campaign promise. Why are you blaming Bush? Bush's fuck-up is one of the reasons Obama won in the first place.

And now things are worse. Why are you still blaming Bush?

Because... BUSH! Why don't you GET IT?!

 

[asterism]

Please, Bush screwed up. Are all you Lefties happy now?


But that was 5 years ago and your Administration is still blaming bush instead of doing anything in the last 5 years to fix it...

So take your sorry ass Bush's fault shit and stick it. Obama now owns this mess.....Even if he still believes it's Bush's fault..........

Can any of the Obamabots own up to anything?

How about this.

It's high time to get serious about funding the VA and making sure they are operating efficiently.

Personally? I've been saying this for years.

Vets deserve the best benefits this country can offer.

That should be a non-partisan idea.

The scandal is about bonuses being paid to government employees for falsifying records, thereby denying veterans necessary medical treatment. The money is there, the bureaucrats are just putting themselves ahead of their patients.

You can try to deflect all you want, but this is a failure of a big government program that is no longer oriented to serve anyone other than the employees of it.

 

[asterism]

First and it's truly sad to have to keep pointing this out but Bush is no longer President second the Bush administration transition team did inform the Obama people about this third the VA problems didn't start with Obama or with Bush they have been around for a very long time but the lid on this blew off under Obama so fair or unfair it falls on him that's just how it is in politics.

Obama's people created the idea of paying bonuses for faked results.

 

[asterism]

First and it's truly sad to have to keep pointing this out but Bush is no longer President second the Bush administration transition team did inform the Obama people about this third the VA problems didn't start with Obama or with Bush they have been around for a very long time but the lid on this blew off under Obama so fair or unfair it falls on him that's just how it is in politics.

How's it unfair? Bush did a bad job, but that's besides the point. Obama knew about the problem and did nothing, and people died. Obama's failure had nothing to do with Boooosh.

Wasn't claiming it did just pointing out to the hyper partisans on both sides who like to think every problem in the country started with either Bush or Obama is not the case this whole thing could have hit the fan under Bush it could have under who ever follows Obama it just so happens it did under Obama so he get's all the heat for it some may think and probably that's unfair but as I said it's just how politics is.

There were no secret waiting lists under Bush or anyone else. That's an Obama Administration invention.

 

[asterism]

Obama knew about this problem before his tenure as president and didn't handle the problem sufficiently. Period. Only an uber-hack can try to deflect this shortcoming on to Bush. Period.

Well no.

Obama entered office with an economy in freefall, 2 ongoing wars, one of the most dangerous terrorists on the loose, and an opposition party committed to just one thing, making him a one term President.

You might have a little traction on this had the VA been the only thing on the plate and he was getting a little help.

But as it stands? Republicans only interest is removing the President from office. That's it.

That haven't done shit to help.

Actually they've done worse. They've closed down government and committed it to austerity.

That same question was posed in the 2008 campaign. Obama said that he could "walk and chew gum at the same time."

So.....?

 

[asterism]

Well, the world trade center construction is still ongoing some 13 years after 9/11.

Was that a failure of the "left" as well?

What does that have to do with this?? Nothing.

People died on Obama's watch, after Bush warned him. That is a fact. I don't see how in any way this administration is not the only one to blame.

What does it have to do?

Fixing the crap Bush left behind is a heavy lift.

Bush's VA was denying many vets treatment for ailments like Agent Orange poisoning and PTSD. Additionally they were cutting the funding to the VA.

Obama? Came into office and raised the VA budget while getting previously ignored diseases, treatment. That's in addition to ending the war and bringing more folks home, who by the way required treatment.

To boot?

McConnell's obstruction cowboys have blocked funding for the VA.

You just can't make this stuff up.

Republicans hate government, fuck it up..THEN point to Democrats and say "It's their fault".

He apparently spent that increased budget on bonuses for dishonest government employees.


See why his plans don't work?

 

[asterism]

Well no.

Obama entered office with an economy in freefall, 2 ongoing wars, one of the most dangerous terrorists on the loose, and an opposition party committed to just one thing, making him a one term President.

You might have a little traction on this had the VA been the only thing on the plate and he was getting a little help.

But as it stands? Republicans only interest is removing the President from office. That's it.

That haven't done shit to help.

Actually they've done worse. They've closed down government and committed it to austerity.

So your excuse is Obama had too many irons in the fire?? Give me a freaking break. He's president of the United States, he has to be able to multitask, and this was a very important issue that should have been tended to. As far as not getting republican support, hes the one in charge of his own administration, what the hell did you want republicans to do?

Drop the partisanship for once, roll up their sleeves and pitch in.

This is important.

The Republican-controlled House did just that. What did the Democrat-controlled Senate do?

They kicked the can down the road.

 

[asterism]

Whats amazing here is that all the rw'ers blame Obama for not fixing....BUSH's PROBLEMS while at the same time ignoring any and all problems that occurred under Bush.

They dont hold Bush at fault for any of the spilled milk but complain that Obama didnt clean up the mess.

With no shame

I'm blaming Obama for not fixing a problem he campaigned on 7 years ago! He not only didn't fix it, his appointees made it worse by creating some easily-gamed bonus structure without ANY action on a GAO report documenting the fraud.

 

[asterism]

The problems with the VA isn't a lack of funding. It's government inefficiency. Salaried cardiologists were seeing two patients a day while those in private practice were seeing eight.

Government employees are notoriously lazy and wasteful. Much more than in private industry. This doesn't change whether it's the post office or a government hospital.

Are you really that slow? Why do you think the vets were put on a waiting list to die? Because Bush underestimated the number of injuries vet when defending his illegal war. The money is not there for the Doctors. The money is not there for the tests.

That is what you get when you elect a recovering alcoholic...twice.

But the money was there for the bonuses.

 

[asterism]

Whats amazing here is that all the rw'ers blame Obama for not fixing....BUSH's PROBLEMS while at the same time ignoring any and all problems that occurred under Bush.

They dont hold Bush at fault for any of the spilled milk but complain that Obama didnt clean up the mess.

With no shame

lmao.

You sir, are an idiot.

Why should any of us concentrate on what a man did or didnt do 6 years ago....when we have a man in charge right now that needs to be evaluated?

You're right theres a saying about learning from the past. It goes "Dont learn from it" something like that.

No one ius blaming Obama for the problem.

We are blaming Obama for acknowledging the problem back in 2008, promising to do something about it...and instead, he let it get worse....and he STILL has the means to fix it.....but he wants to wait for some more reports.

And Obama once again didnt clean up Bush's crap fast enough so the spilled milk is his fault or something like that

He promised to clean it up 7 years ago, and 6 years into his 8 year run it's much worse than before.

How much time does he need?


The Obama Administration PAID BONUSES TO GOVERNMENT WORKERS FOR LETTING VETERANS DIE.

This was DOCUMENTED IN DECEMBER 2012!

 

[asterism]

None of them do.

The whole "Yellow Ribbon" "Thank the vets for the service" that the right wing engages in is crap.

There's nothing behind it.

Bush hid the caskets coming home as well as the civilians getting killed in Iraq.

It's a fucking John Wayne movie to them.

That's why the lied about Pat Tillman, Jessica Lynch and dragged Cindy Sheenan through the mud. None of that fit into the narrative of the Bushies.

i served in Iraq; i bet you didnt though. it isnt a "john wayne movie" to me

you're a laughable loser playing in your own diaper loaded with talking points.
the one with the narrative is you.

You're the one whining there.. Ace.

And insulting the guy picking up the tab.

Good one.

Picking up the tab? How so?

 

[Harry Dresden]

Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs? It stains the legacies of presidents as far back as John F. Kennedy

Who Really Broke Veterans Affairs? - NationalJournal.com

Just being narrow-minded and partisan won't fix the problem. The problem requires a bi-partisan solution. Bumper stickers won't solve it.

Just being narrow-minded and partisan won't fix the problem

well then you had better stay away,because you wont be any help....

 

[Harry Dresden]

you would be welcome to come down to the PO and ATTEMPT to get a route cased up and pulled down and then load the way too small truck and then deliver it in 8 hours...we will see who is lazy.....you would not last a week.....and you would be sore for a month....we have seen people like you before.....they come in saying...."how hard can this job be?"......3 days later they are gone....the ones who stick around have a whole new perspective on what its like to carry a mail route....especially when it fucking pouring rain and cold....im sure the ones who have to put up with Snow have it even rougher.....

they drive a little mail truck and push the carrier box around in a hand cart. All the while chatting or texting on their cell phones. Those are the ones who work. Many times they take the mail home and throw it away.

You see them do it? You still bashing girls in the head for saying hello to you?

thats because she "thinks" those Girl Scouts are selling cookies laced with Pot....

 

[Harry Dresden]

The problems with the VA isn't a lack of funding. It's government inefficiency. Salaried cardiologists were seeing two patients a day while those in private practice were seeing eight.

Government employees are notoriously lazy and wasteful. Much more than in private industry. This doesn't change whether it's the post office or a government hospital.

you would be welcome to come down to the PO and ATTEMPT to get a route cased up and pulled down and then load the way too small truck and then deliver it in 8 hours...we will see who is lazy.....you would not last a week.....and you would be sore for a month....we have seen people like you before.....they come in saying...."how hard can this job be?"......3 days later they are gone....the ones who stick around have a whole new perspective on what its like to carry a mail route....especially when it fucking pouring rain and cold....im sure the ones who have to put up with Snow have it even rougher.....

they drive a little mail truck and push the carrier box around in a hand cart. All the while chatting or texting on their cell phones. Those are the ones who work. Many times they take the mail home and throw it away.

what the hell is the "carrier box"?....