Bush’s Record on VA Funding

[bedowin62]

just like young Black men killed by less than fully Black people; the left only wants to talk about soldiers killed on Bush's watch


libs are losers and crybabies who lie to themselves

 

[TooTall]

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".

When was Bush denying treatment for Agent Orange?

Due to the Agent Orange Act of 1991, the VA now acknowledges certain cancers and other diseases as caused by Agent Orange. This means that veterans with these recognized diseases can qualify for disability compensation under “presumptive service connection.”

 

[ClosedCaption]

dude! Bush was president like 7 years ago....

Any of those troops killed or injured under his watch less killed or injured?

Huh?..................................................................................

Its good that you didnt try to answer and instead pretended to not understand the question. Ignorance would be a better excuse than acting like the soldiers injured or killed werent anymore because its been a long time

 

[Quantum Windbag]

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.

How many cardiology patients does the VA treat? It seems you are cherry-picking one stat.

96,000 americans die every year because of medical mistakes made in private and public hospitals.

Does the VA need reform? Yup.

Is this the Holy Grail of White House Scandals?

Nope. Not really.

It might not be the Holy Grail, but it is the one that the Democratic Party cannot ignore, even if you can.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Why does every Republican plan involve giving money to rich people?

Why does every JoeB post involve whinging about rich people?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

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.

The saddest part about this is that the VA is what you get when the government works, yet you still want to blame politics for the problem.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

he was elected by the people twice

that means nothing to you huh

OMG, it's back.

 

[mudwhistle]

he was elected by the people twice

that means nothing to you huh

It means he should know what's going on but he claims he doesn't.

Two years into his second term and everything is still a mystery to him.

If he did his job for once it wouldn't be.

That's the best thing I can say about him. I suspect he did know and just could care less. The other day he was talking about making vets with service related injuries pay the VA for their treatment. This is what Obama thinks of our military....

 

[edthecynic]

the right always wants to cut help for vets

bush increased funding for the VA


libs are losers who lie to themselves

No, every Bush budget cut funding to the VA. Congress then increased the VA funding over Bush's objections and threatened vetoes, daring Bush to veto the Congressional increases.

 

[edthecynic]

when was the last time the right voted money for vets?

My guess would be the last budget that was passed, TDM

Better question is when was the last time the GOP voted DOWN money for Vets?
Answer: this February while faking concern about Vets' waiting times!!! That's right, the GOP cut funding because more Vets getting health care would increase waiting time!!!

Senate rejects far-reaching Veterans Affairs bill - The Washington Post

“I don’t know how anyone who voted ‘no’ today can look a veteran in the eye and justify that vote,” said Daniel M. Dellinger, national commander of the American Legion. “Our veterans deserve more than what they got today.”

Aside from the costs, Republicans also were concerned that the bill would add more veterans to a system already struggling with extensive wait times at VA health clinics and a long-standing backlog of disability claims. The legislation would have extended the period of time veterans are eligible to enroll in the VA health-care system from five years to 10 years after deployment.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Truth be told, Bush and Obama administrations have raised the budget amounts for VA....

https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS22897.pdf


Still doesn't forgive the current lies and misconduct at VA today........And since it's been over 5 years that Obama knew about it...he owns it....

 

[hjmick]

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

Hey, that's great.



You do know that Bush isn't in charge anymore, right? You do know that Obama is the President now, right? You do know that, appearances being what they are and all, Obama cared only enough about the deplorable state of the VA to use the issue as campaign fodder, right? Because if he really wanted to make changes, he would have certainly followed up on what was happening, what changes were being made, how things going, right?


Why is it so hard to say he dropped the ball? It happens. Instead, all we get from the sycophants is, "But Bush!" Yeah, we get it, you didn't like Bush, you love Obama. Cool. He is still just human, and as such he is flawed.


The truth is, that this happened isn't all that surprising. The VA is a behemoth with more tentacles than the Kraken. Obama should have sent a message and dropped the Secretary of Veteran's Affairs, instead we get what could qualify as, "Heckuva job Shinseki!" The guy's been in charge of the VA for six years, things have only gotten worse, and he gets to keep his job? And we're supposed to take Obama seriously when he says he won't stand for what's been happening? Really? He was made aware of the conditions during the transition, and yet hear we are. Hope and Change.


That's it, perhaps he was hoping for it to change...


Look, by his second term I was no fan of Bush. Hell, half way through his first. But this is on Obama, what came before doesn't hold weight in this discussion. Obama made the conditions at the VA a campaign issue. He assailed Bush's record on the VA. He told us it would be different when he was elected. He said he would make changes at the VA. It didn't happen, things are arguably worse now than ever. That's on him.


Bush's record was topical seven years ago. Today it's just a tactic to distract from this administration's record...

 

[francoHFW]

Since you're bringing up George W. Bush (what a surprise)...

....what is Bush's record for vets dying while waiting for VA health care?

We'll never know, just like we'll never know how many people were cut off by insurance companies and died. Pubs and their greedy idiot cronies suq, Pub dupes.

 

[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.....

 

[Harry Dresden]

Since you're bringing up George W. Bush (what a surprise)...

....what is Bush's record for vets dying while waiting for VA health care?

Dunno..but he created around 40,000 or so needing it.

And some good business for the casket making industry in this country.

made in China Sallow....just sayin.....

 

[hortysir]

Bush this; Bush that

the loser Left will NEVER own up to the failures on its watch

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

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

Wanna talk 9-11 and failures?

How about Bloomer holding a black-tie, invitation only party in the newly opened 9-11 museum?
Dancing and partying on the grave site of 1,115 unidentified victims.
'You should all be ashamed of yourselves': Sister of 9/11 victim slams museum officials for hosting cocktail party - NY Daily News

 

[Plasmaball]

when was the last time the right voted money for vets?

My guess would be the last budget that was passed, TDM

feb.2014.....it didnt pass

 

[francoHFW]

Yup, Booosh and the Reaganistas were a total catastrophe, and we'll be fixing their messes for ANOTHER 10 years.

 

[mudwhistle]

when was the last time the right voted money for vets?

My guess would be the last budget that was passed, TDM

Better question is when was the last time the GOP voted DOWN money for Vets?
Answer: this February while faking concern about Vets' waiting times!!! That's right, the GOP cut funding because more Vets getting health care would increase waiting time!!!

Senate rejects far-reaching Veterans Affairs bill - The Washington Post

“I don’t know how anyone who voted ‘no’ today can look a veteran in the eye and justify that vote,” said Daniel M. Dellinger, national commander of the American Legion. “Our veterans deserve more than what they got today.”

Aside from the costs, Republicans also were concerned that the bill would add more veterans to a system already struggling with extensive wait times at VA health clinics and a long-standing backlog of disability claims. The legislation would have extended the period of time veterans are eligible to enroll in the VA health-care system from five years to 10 years after deployment.

This dumb bill was brought up before.

If Bernie Sanders sponsored it, the damned thing was never meant to be passed.

The main sticking point was Sanders wanted to pay for it with fake money. Money that wasn't going to be spent on wars. Money we don't have allotted anymore. It also would have paid for reproductive procedures, abortions, not treating the wounded and injured. In other words, it was a stunt, never intended to be passed.

 

[Harry Dresden]

So I guess it's just another phoney scandal....
There aren't any problems with the VA...

Actually..it's a very real problem.

One both parties should COME TOGETHER to deal with.

Instead of playing games.

which is the main point....SINCE this not taking care of returning vets has been going on longer than Obama or Bush....