Break Point

Amanda “Shinga” Bussell, a disabled vet, shared her anger and frustration over the monster hypocrites of the “right,” with their farcically mendacious attacks on Obama for wanting to bring Syrian refugees to the U.S.

“The same people who call me a lazy good-for-nothing, looking-for-handouts freeloader are the same ones saying we can’t accept refugees because we ‘need to take care of our veterans and homeless first,” Bussell wrote. “How is that supposed to happen, exactly…?”

“Don’t use me as your fucking excuse when a week ago you were happily voting away my benefits and healthcare…”

~~~
Cher Reynolds, a teaching assistant in Kentucky, eloquently and precisely shared her frustration with all the utter disingenuous bullshit.

Earlier, I hit my breaking point with the “We need to help our veterans instead” posts that have flooded Facebook in response to the incoming refugees. It appears people are unaware of efforts made during Obama’s presidency that suffered ill fates due to the infuriating, counterproductive obstructionism existing in Congress these last seven years.

Below, I’ve listed six bills intended to help veterans in various ways that passed the House, but died in the Senate. Who on earth wouldn’t want to provide for these brave men and women? Instead of voting on these bills, the Republican Party proceeded to “rack up the highest number of filibusters in American history.” Yes. That’s right. They fought to block the passage of bills designed to aid veterans—among many, many other bills that would help other citizens.

Six bills that could have assisted veterans with employment, housing, and education needs that died in Congress:

H.R. 466—Wounded Veteran Job Security Act became H. R. 2875.
H.R. 1168—Veterans Retraining Act
H.R. 1172—Requiring List on VA Website of Organizations Providing Scholarships for Veterans
H.R. 1293—Disabled Veterans Home Improvement and Structural Alteration Grant Increase Act of 2009
H.R. 1803—Veterans Business Center Act
H.R. 2352—Job Creation Through Entrepreneurship Act

Not enough proof that obstructionism in Congress during Obama’s presidency has hurt our heroes?

EVERY SINGLE MEMBER of the Republican Party voted to filibuster the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act—which would provide health care for 9/11 first responders. While they're not necessarily military veterans, the firemen and police officers who risked their lives rescuing people from the Twin Towers inhaled smoke and toxic chemicals that contributed to many dying from cancer and other ailments over the last fourteen years. Introduced in February 2009, a trimmed down version of this act was finally signed into effect in January 2011—two long years later.

The reason for the hesitation? The Republican Party didn’t like how we would pay for it. Let us remember that the United States, during Obama’s presidency, has been responsible for roughly half of total global military spending. In the simplest of terms: we have the money to go to war, but somehow we don’t have the money to provide mental and physical health care for those who suffer while doing our dirty work. To add insult to injury, the Zadroga Act expired in October 2015, and there are disagreements about how to reauthorize it.

Finally, consider this: approximately one million veterans rely upon food stamps—a program that conservatives frequently express desires to cut or kill because it attracts “too many freeloaders.” Lowering food stamp benefits hurts veterans. These are just a handful of examples of the various ways the gridlock and petty party politics occurring in Congress in recent years have been damaging for our country’s heroes. We need to take care of these men and women; they certainly deserve more than our prayers.

Keep in mind that when you elect senators who say that they share your patriotic values but then repeatedly vote against these types of bills, without offering up viable compromises, some of the responsibility rests upon your shoulders. Repeatedly empowering politicians who do not address the issues you believe are important is not only bewilderingly wasteful, it is literally hurting and, in some cases, killing people we should be protecting given they have done so much to protect us.
~~~
By the by, have you heard about Zero:2016?

Zero: 2016 is a movement of communities working to end veteran homelessness by the close of 2015 and end chronic homelessness one year later.

This is an initiative the Obama’s began—both Michelle and Barack.

...as a result of the White House initiative, the state of Rhode Island is on track to end veteran homelessness by the end of 2016. Houston, New Orleans, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina have already succeeded in eradicating veteran homelessness. This highly-successful campaign is the most under-reported victory story of the federal government in the past decade.

~~~
“There is nothing in the record of the past two years when both Houses of Congress have been controlled by the Republican Party which can lead any person to believe that those promises will be fulfilled in the future. They follow the Hitler line - no matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth.”
~John F. Kennedy