Type to search
The stories you want. The opinions that matter.
Sign up for our Daily Newsletter and never miss a story.
No, thanks
Tag: recess
Senate Sends $16.3 Billion Veterans Affairs Reform Bill To Obama
August 01, 2014
By Rebecca Bratek, Tribune Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — Nearly four months after Veterans Affairs employees were exposed for allegedly falsifying records to cover up long wait times for patients, the Senate on Thursday night overwhelmingly approved a $16.3 billion compromise bill to overhaul the department.
The chamber’s 91-3 vote comes as Congress heads into a five-week recess. The House passed the joint conference committee legislation Wednesday. Now the measure awaits President Barack Obama’s signature.
“My belief is that the cost of war, in terms of what it does to the men and women who fight our battles, is a lot greater than most Americans fully understand,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the Senate’s chief negotiator. “It is absolutely imperative we don’t make veterans into political pawns.”
The deal includes $10 billion in emergency funds to pay private doctors to treat veterans who can’t get a VA appointment within 14 days or those who live more than 40 miles from a VA facility. The remaining funds are allotted to build up the health care system’s clinical staff and lease new clinics across the country.
The legislation also establishes an independent committee to review VA operations and act as a liaison with Congress.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated the reform legislation would increase the federal deficit by about $10 billion over the next 10 years.
Some of the five House Republicans who voted against the bill said Congress was throwing money at the problem and not addressing its cause.
“We need structural changes, a purge of those who made this mess, and more choices for our veterans,” said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA).
In early April, amid reports of mismanagement in the VA system, Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL), told the House Veterans Affairs Committee that a secret waiting list may have contributed to the deaths of dozens of veterans.
The wait lists, hidden from official records, concealed thousands of veterans who were forced to wait months to see a VA doctor, even though the health care system has a 30-day goal when scheduling new appointments.
By the end of May, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki had resigned, and investigations into the vast agency were in full swing.
The House and Senate overwhelmingly approved separate versions of a VA reform bill in early June, but legislators clashed over the costs. In previous versions, the House would have spent $44 billion while the Senate authorized $35 billion.
The scaled-down compromise parallels the $17.6 billion that Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson said recently that the agency needed over the next three years to begin reform.
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Robert McDonald, former chief executive of Procter & Gamble, as Shinseki’s replacement.
The reform measure grants McDonald broad authority to fire or demote senior executives who are accused of mismanagement and dishonesty.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer ( D-MD), supported the bill, but said the firing provision undermines civil service protections that have existed for decades.
Senate Republicans who opposed the bill echoed their House counterparts. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), offered a “better choice” to his fellow lawmakers Thursday: “Let’s wait a bit,” he said, and see how effective McDonald is at the top of the agency, letting the new secretary review the VA and offer his input.
Rep. Dan Benishek (R-MI), who worked as a VA doctor for 20 years, said the “true test” would come next.
“Our bill is not perfect, and the problems at the VA will not be solved overnight,” he said. “But this is our best chance.”
AFP Photo/Saul Loeb
Interested in U.S. politics? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!
With Midterms Approaching, Voters Must Return To Senses
August 01, 2014
By Ann McFeatters, McClatchy-Tribune News Service
WASHINGTON – The boys and girls of Congress are returning from summer camp — er, Capitol Hill — to their real homes where they will 1) raise money and plead to be returned to camp; 2) stress how much they hate the nation’s political polarization; and 3) pledge never to compromise their beliefs.
Folks, there is no way to escape their blandishments unless you do not go out in public, especially to a county fair, parade or political rally. You’ll also have to refuse to answer your phone or open your front door. And do not power up your TV or car radio until the middle of November.
“Midterm election” may sound innocuous. This year it is a synonym for blood sport.
When President Barack Obama assumed office in 2009, he had a Democratic Senate and a Democratic House. In 2010, Democrats lost the House, and gleeful Republicans decided to make Obama’s life miserable.
House Republicans attempted to block anything he proposed. They did very well. They shut down the government at a cost of $24 billion. They proudly have passed the fewest number of bills in recent history, even those that 90 percent of Americans want, such as keeping guns out of schools. They voted to repeal Obamacare at least 50 times. They are hoping to sue Obama successfully for not enforcing Obamacare to the letter of the law even though, obviously, they don’t really want him to enforce it. Lately, some have begun talking blithely about “impeachment.”
Chafing to kick Obama around even harder, Republicans have vowed to win control of the Senate this November.They may succeed.
Upset at the prospect of being a lame dog for two more years and having no friends in Washington except his Portuguese water dogs, the president of the United States is counter-attacking. That means he will attend just about any Democratic fundraiser White House aides can locate by GPS. (Word to church groups and PTAs: Now might be the time to invite POTUS to your next gathering.)
Republicans had a field day pointing out that Obama refused to go to the southern border to see the plight of unaccompanied children streaming across but went to Colorado to play pool and raise money. Never mind that Republicans have blocked every Obama attempt to try to fix the broken immigration system.
So guess what is going to be a big rallying cry for Republicans this November? The broken immigration system.
And guess what the second GOP battle cry will be? The need to get all those millions of Americans who now have health insurance to agree they should give it up.
Everybody is angry with the political system because it is broken, results in the tyranny of the few over the majority, fails to help people who really need it, fills the coffers of the richest and preserves the status quo.
Oddly, the Tea Partyers who hate government the most are clamoring the loudest to be given government paychecks so they can cause more havoc such as refusing to raise the debt limit (thus destroying what remaining good faith the U.S. has). They also want to cut off more aid to the working poor and refuse to fix crumbling roads and bridges.
Millions of voters fed up with the impasse in Washington (where nothing of strategic importance is being done) will elect and reelect the cogs in the wheel. The lost battle for civility only got more hopeless when Tea Partyers realized that dumping vitriol (and untruths) on moderate opponents is one of the best ways to get a hand in the public till.
Voters, return to your senses. Do not elect or reelect anyone who wants to refuse to pay debts America already has incurred. Do not pull any lever for someone who proudly promises never to compromise (without it, politics is meaningless). Do not send to Washington anyone who tells you how much he/she hates government. Do not give your precious vote to anyone who labels the other side evil, treasonous, demonic or stupid. (Well, stupid is OK.)
And it’s OK, too, this August to shake hands with a politician with sticky cotton candy on your palm.
Ann McFeatters is an op-ed columnist for McClatchy-Tribune. Readers may send her email at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com.
AFP Photo/Mark Wilson
Want more political news and analysis? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!
About The National Memo
The National Memo is a political newsletter and website that combines the spirit of investigative journalism with new technology and ideas. We cover campaigns, elections, the White House, Congress, and the world with a fresh outlook. Our own journalism — as well as our selections of the smartest stories available every day — reflects a clear and strong perspective, without the kind of propaganda, ultra-partisanship and overwrought ideology that burden so much of our political discourse.
TAGS