Bad Ass of the Week Award Winner Rep. Bill Flores (R-TX)
Rep. Bill Flores won Bad Ass of the Week because of his pointed and thorough questioning of VA Secretary Shinseki. His question focused on whether politics was coming ahead the needs of veterans in the shutdown.
Rep. Flores highlighted the many twists and turns in VA’s message about how the shutdown will impact veterans benefits. Initially, VA said the benefits would be fine. However, just days before the shutdown, VA reversed its position.
Rep. Flores drilled down into the matter to raise the question, that the VA manner in which VA is shutting down may be putting politics ahead of mission.
VA’s Secretary Eric Shinseki stated that the President did not influence how VA shutdown. Rather, VA was merely inept at preparing and planning despite having substantial notice than an issue might arise that could effect veterans benefit payouts.
In case you missed it, I included a clip of Rep. Flores’ questioning.
I have had Shinseki’s response analyzed by a psychiatrist to get an impression. That psychiatrist believes Shinseki was being less than truthful when he stated that the wind down and threat of benefits cuts was not politically motivated.
But regardless of what the doc says, watch the video and decide for yourself. To see all the highlight clips of the hearing, follow this link: https://www.disabledveterans.org/2013/10/09/video-highlights-va-totally-dropped-ball/
Rep. Bill Flores questions whether or not White House influenced VA Shutdown
Rep. Bill Flores: “There was a field guide that was issued by VA on September 27 that said disability claims processing would not be affected. Then on September 28 VA notified the Committee that they would not be able to send the November benefits checks because funding would run out in late October.
“Then on September 30, President Obama in an interview said that veterans will find their support centers unstaffed. This is in direct contradiction to the Field Guide that said vet centers would not be affected. During that same interview, the President intimated the shutdown would affect somebody in a VA office who is counseling someone with PTSD.
“On September 30, VA updated the field guide… This goes back to my question.
“Did someone at the White House or Office of Management and Budget or Treasury or any other federal agency or federal employee ask you or anyone else to modify the timetable with which VA was going to begin its operational wind down?”
I really don’t see any politics here, of course I don’t watch FOX news so I don’t buy into the whole black helicopter crap either.
What I do see is Flores grandstanding to try to make it a political issue, what if anything has Flores ever done for veterans other than this grandstanding? NOTHING.
I thing that Benjamin Kraus has a conservative bias that is tilting him toward not even considering Flores as grandstanding.
I expected more from you Ben.
So, from this brief Q/A I hear that the House passed one bill & a subsequent Resolution and the Rep. from TX, confirmed that it is NOW UP TO THE SENATE to provide their stamp of approval to move to allocate funds for the VA.
Judging by how Obama, Reid, and RINOS treat us veterans, I doubt that the Senate will do the right thing and fund the VA.
In fact, right now Obama has authorized riot police to stop veterans from protesting the closures of the war memorials.
“US Park Police have arrived in front of WH. Some in riot gear! Tea party/veteran protesters start booing,” wrote CNN’s Jim Acosta on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/JimAcostaCNN
The proof is in the pudding.
Shinseki is the mouthpiece of Obama.
A recent WashPo article calls out Obama for being:
– a control freak
– secretive
– manipulative
So it is no real surprise to realize that Shinseki is doing Obama’s bidding by waging war against veterans by using them as political hostages to keep his failed Obamacare alive.
The same Obamacare that is screwing veterans and their families as they find out what is really in it, ie. government control over their healthcare, higher premiums, higher deductibles, inability to keep the doctor of your choice, and an Independent Payment Advisory Board that will ration healthcare to the detriment of severely ill patients.
To the naysayers here, just eat the damn pudding and you will soon see that the true enemy is really Obama’s Veterans Affairs political appointees, namely Shinseki.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-obamas-war-on-leaks-reporters-fight-back/2013/10/04/70231e1c-2aeb-11e3-b139-029811dbb57f_print.html
Sorry I don’t ever read the washingtonpost and you shouldn’t either. If you need that conservative pap then just listen to Rush, no need to be able to read at all. Really you should consider the source when posting links. The W P has never been shy about lying to you, but you’ll belive anything if you just want to believe it won’t you, Irregardless of the whole truth. The term for that is epistemic closure, you really should look it up.