Once upon a time there was a bill in Congress. It had a number: SB 1982. It had a title: “Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act of 2014.” It had a sponsor, Senator Bernard Sanders, I-VT, and 28 co-sponsors, all Democrats, from among the most conservative members of that caucus to some of the most liberal.
It does or would do things, supporting health care needs for veterans, including mental health and family/caregiver support for those aiding vets with mental health disorders, and health care related to sexual trauma. It provides support for veterans seeking jobs and more.
It is, in other words, the kind of measure you support if you take seriously the easily-said words in praise of Americans who serve in our armed forces.
Which is why it’s important to tell every last veteran, family member of a vet, friend of a vet, dog or cat or sentient robot pet of a vet exactly why it failed to advance through the Senate today. Here’s the roll call, but no peeking. Guess what happened. No prizes; the question answers itself.
I’ll tell ya: the vote to suspend budgetary rules (the procedural step at hand) was 56 to 41 in favor. In our dysfunctional Senate, that rump minority was sufficient to block further action on the bill. Every Democrat voted in favor of proceeding. One Two Republicans did: Senator Moran of Kansas and Senator Heller of Nevada.* All 41 “nays” were Republican, including, of course, the loud crowd of war-first types as Lindsay Graham and John McCain — so often eager to send men and women in harms way, so strangely reluctant to pay the debts they thus incur.
Democrats: better for the economy. Better for kids. And, as here we see, walking the walk for vets, while the Republicans hope that talking the talk as loudly as possible will obscure the damage they do.
Tell your families; tell anyone affected by this; tell them to pass it on….
Remember: Friends don’t let friends (and vets) vote Republican in 2014.
Last: a side note. Soonergrunt and I had a brief exchange on this on Twitter. He said this would only matter if the Democrats had the guts to pound the GOP on this from now to November. I hope the folks in Congress do. But we can spread the word ourselves, and should.
Image: Workshop of Rembrandt, Old Warrior, c. 1630
*Thanks to commenters Feebog and SiubhanDuinne for the correction. Apologies for the mistake.
Baud
That’s not a congressional bill number.
Where is W.? He was saying how we need to be there for veterans not too long ago.
Based on twitter at least, Dems are pushing back. Will all those people dedicated to the GOP finally listen?
SiubhanDuinne
Who would have guessed that a Republican Moran would do the right thing?
dmsilev
About those Republicans. They had reasons:
See, the problem was that the bill failed to set up the conditions to create more veterans.
Mike in NC
Republicans prefer their veterans to be loudmouthed, angry assholes at VFW posts, but they’ll settle for ones in flag-draped caskets in a pinch.
Hungry Joe
You ask, “Will all those people dedicated to the GOP finally listen?”
I ask, “Is that a real question?”
Baud
@Baud:
Right bill number. Convention is to write as S. 1982. I was confused. Sorry for the pedantry.
The Dangerman
@Hungry Joe:
There are a tremendous number of single issue voters (Abortion. Gun control, etc) on their side that are unreachable. Forever.
Villago Delenda Est
Why is anyone surprised at this? dmsilev covered the thin gruel of a reason to vote it down, not approving their sabotage of the deal with Iran. The reality is that veterans are more “takers” from the “makers” who are true parasites.
TriassicSands
Not quite. It looks like every Democrat who voted, voted yes. Nelson of Florida apparently didn’t vote.
This is exactly the kind of support I’ve come to expect from the Republicans. Young men and women put in several years or more of military service to their country and Republicans repay them with lip service.These monstrous hypocrites think lip service is sufficient and based on election results their position is good enough for many millions of Americans.
We can tell any and everybody we want and it won’t make a bit of difference in November. Republican voters couldn’t possibly care how the representatives vote on issues concerning the military because they rely on GOP rhetoric instead.
LanceThruster
Mah.Thur.Fah.Curse.
raven
And he and I know they won’t.
Feebog
I understood that Heller (NV) also voted aye. No doubt Reed changed his vote so he could bring it back for another vote.
SiubhanDuinne
From our bloghost’s post just now on this exact same topic, it appears that GOP Sen. Heller of Nevada also voted to suspend.
ETA: Feebog got there first.
Tom Levenson
@Feebog: @SiubhanDuinne: While I have a sneaking suspicion that this post thread is pretty dead, thanks for the corrections. See the fix above.
mclaren
I think the GOP’s move to kill the bill was a good thing for America.
Here’s the bottom line, assholes: you’re all acting exactly like the GOP.
You parrot mournful sighs of concern about the terrible terrible plight of our brain-damaged and mutilated veterans…but then, when push comes to shove, you vomit out the usual knee-jerk response: “Support the troops!”
No.
You have to stop supporting the troops.
The troops are part of the problem.
The deluded gullible 18-year-old impoverished Southern boys who volunteer for these endless unwinnable wars are what make the endless unwinnable wars possible. When the American boys stop volunteering, the wars will stop.
So how do we get the American kids to stop volunteering for these mindless pointless meatgrinders?
By making it unmistakably clear that the American government and its wealthy elite highly-educated elected officials and bureaucrats don’t give a fuck about the brain-damaged and mutilated American veterans.
The Republican action in killing this bill makes it pellucidly clear that American elected officials regard U.S. soliders as “dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy,” in Henry Kissinger’s famous words.
That’s the attitude not just of the Republicans, it’s the attitude of Barack Obama, it’s the attitude of Joe Biden, it’s the attitude of Nancy Pelosi, it’s the attitude of John Boehner. None of these rich fucks give a goddamn about the mutilated brain-damaged American veterans who come back destroyed from their pointless endless unwinnable wars.
So if you want the vets to stop getting brain-damaged and mutilated, this is the best way to do it. Make it incredibly clear to everyone that America’s Repubican and Democratic elected officials regard their soldiers as dogshit to be pissed on, treated like scum, used and thrown away like pieces of snot-defaced kleenex.
Betsy
Tom, thank you for this post. I live in AZ and will call McCain and Flake’s offices in the morning. It’s often discouraging to be a Democrat in AZ, but we keep our noses to the grindstone. Time is on our side, even if those most brave souls who have fought the hardest won’t live long enough to be here to celebrate when day when true equality arrives.
To those of you calling for a boycott of my state, please don’t write us off. Your tourist dollars help all the people who you say you support so strongly. We’re here, and we’ll welcome you with huge smiles and wonderful service.
Fred
@mclaren: 18 year olds don’t think they will get shot and certainly not disabled. That is why they are called “The Invincibles”. It is in the nature of 18 year old kids to do foolish things like join the army. They believe they are signing up to fight for a great cause. That and a signing bonus that will make a down payment on a really cool set of wheels. How could they turn it down?
The people who are responsible for the wars are the people who elect the pols who fund this insanity. Convince them if you can. We have met the enemy and they are us.
PhedUp
@mclaren
The thing is you twit, the vets already exist. How nice of you to want to screw them over to show them how stupid they were for joining up in the first place. I’m sure your ‘principles’ give you the warm fuzzies, they make decent people want to give you a wide berth.
I also like how you think a lack of volunteer enlisters would deter war mongers from waging war if that’s what they want to do. Cruelty and delusion in one fell swoop.