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With every strategy that he is trying failing, Speaker John Boehner is trying to deflect blame for the government shutdown by using America’s veterans as political human shields.
In a statement, Speaker Boehner argued that President Obama is hurting our vets:
The White House and congressional Democrats aren’t satisfied with simply shutting the government down. Today the president reiterated his threat to veto a simple, common-sense measure to stand with our nation’s veterans and ensure that veterans’ programs are funded during the shutdown. This comes after the president and Democrats supported the Pay Our Military Act to take care of our men and women in uniform during this time (though they are still playing political games).
With the backlog of disability claims continuing to pile up and veterans having to wait longer and longer to receive their benefits, it is unconscionable that Democrats voted against the Honoring our Promise to America’s Veterans Act (H.J. Res. 72) yesterday to ensure that the Department of Veterans’ Affairs had the resources necessary to address this claims backlog. A small group of House Democrats voted for the measure, acknowledging their party’s strategy is indefensible. Every House Democrat will have the opportunity to do the right thing today.
The president can’t continue to complain about the impact of his government shutdown on veterans while pledging to veto a bill to help them.
Speaker Boehner left out a small, but essential fact. The piecemeal funding for veterans that House Republicans are trying to pass is actually 6.6 billion dollars less than what the budget calls for. Last night, Nancy Pelosi called out this scam on the House floor, “So, let’s not leave our veterans behind by leaving their children, their grandchildren, [and] their families – what they need. And just to go into it, this bill is billions of dollars less than what over 420 Members in this House [of Representatives] passed in June.”
John Boehner and the House Republicans are hiding behind the legacy of the people who served our country with honor to avoid the political criticism of their government shutdown. The piecemeal votes that House Republicans are holding are a sham. The Republicans aren’t trying to fund veterans’ services. Their goal is to make it appear as if President Obama and the Democrats don’t care about veterans. If Republicans really cared about veterans they would not take pass a funding bill that takes $6.6 billion away from our heroes.
It is easy to see through what House Republicans are doing here. Like everything else that House Republicans have tried, John Boehner’s use a vet as a human shield operation is also doomed to fail.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
