Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:33 am
Jon Stewart ripped the 40 Republican senators who blocked the Veterans Job Corps Act of 2012 that would have created jobs for vets. Stewart summed it up by calling them ‘a**holes.’
Video:
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Stewart said,
As divided as America is there are still a few things we can agree on. One, popcorn is corn, so for dietary purposes it does count as a vegetable, and number two. (Video of Candy Crowley reporting on a CNN poll that found by a margin of 85%-14% respondents said it more important prevent cuts in veterans’ benefits than reducing the deficit.) Stewart said, “Wait, but the 14, who are the a**holes the 14% that say reducing the deficit is more important than our obligation to our veterans. Who are the a**holes? (Video of Chuck Todd reporting that 40 Republican senators blocked a jobs bill for vets because it was too expensive.)
Let me be absolutely clear about what happened here, forty Republican senators thought it would be wrong to spend a billion dollars on a bill to help reintegrate veterans into the domestic workforce partly because of the amount of money we had already gladly spent on wars that made them veterans in the first place.
Senate Republicans blocked the legislation that would have created 20,000 jobs for veterans on September 19, and then quickly and quietly hightailed it out of town. At the time of the original story, some Republicans asked where was the list of Democrats who voted against this? They didn’t seem to comprehend that every Democrat voted to advance this legislation.
It is great to see Jon Stewart bringing attention to this deplorable political behavior, but these Republican senators should not be left off the hook.
Here is the list of the 40 Republican senators who stabbed our veterans in the back:
Alexander (R-TN)
Ayotte (R-NH)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coats (R-IN)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Johnson (R-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lee (R-UT)
Lugar (R-IN)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Moran (R-KS)
Paul (R-KY)
Portman (R-OH)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rubio (R-FL)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Toomey (R-PA)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)
If you are like Jon Stewart, and believe that this is just a Senate issue, think again.
Seven of the Republican senators who voted against jobs for vets are also high profile Mitt Romney surrogates. Rob Portman, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, John McCain, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Lindsey Graham, and Kelly Ayotte all occupy high visibility positions in the Romney campaign, and they all voted against creating jobs for veterans.
The Republicans who voted against the bill claimed that it wasn’t paid for, but according to the bill’s author, Sen. Patty Murray, the $200 million per year cost was offset in the legislation.
Jon Stewart thought he was taking a break from talking about the election, but he actually gave veterans a look at what Mitt Romney has planned for them if he gets elected president. If veterans want to know how they would be treated by a potential Romney administration, they should pay attention to the priorities of his surrogates in the Senate.
Not only does Mitt Romney not mention vets, you can count on him to not keep our promise to them.
The 40 Republicans senators who voted against this bill are back home right now. If one of them represents you, go find them ask them to explain to you why they are opposed to funding jobs for veterans?
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