Does Congress really Give a Sh#t about You?

Congress should swear in VA Officials

If its treatment of VA for accountability were any indication, I would flatly say ‘no’. Congress is like a guard dog with no teeth, and they make the decision to stay that way at the beginning of every hearing.

Is honest testimony on behalf of veterans in exchange for 15 seconds to administer an oath worth it? Yes.

To borrow the vernacular of an attorney I met recently, Congress needs to grow a pair and stand up for veterans. If they all really Gave a Shit about us, things would not be the way they are, right?

Currently, all we see are a bunch of lawmakers grandstanding before VA for sound bytes. And I’ll let you in on a little secret. Because they are sound bytes, VA does not take them, Congress or those hearings, seriously.

How do I know that? I spoke with a VA executive recently who literally told me VA views Congressional Hearings as nothing more than sound bytes. The headlines work us up but the real deal does nothing more give those lawmakers a chance to act like they Give a Shit.

I looked up the definition of “Give a Shit” today. The Wiktionary says it means, “To care, to have or to show an interest.” Okay, so maybe Congress on the aggregate does Give a Shit by showing interest to get great sound bytes. But maybe we should expect more from our lawmakers than to merely “show an interest.”

Instead, would it be at least reasonable to expect Congress to at least swear in VA officials who testify? They used to, but the practice stopped in the 80’s for undisclosed reasons. Now, Congress only threatens VA with swearing them in. This is bizarre.

When it comes to sports and athletes, Congress has no problem swearing in these multi millionaires for fear that they might lie on the stand. They justify this action because Congress somehow thinks defending the integrity of American sports is a government interest. Dot dot dot.

By that reasoning, Congress apparently does not think it is a government interest to police itself when it comes to the treatment of VA or the spending of American tax dollars by that same agency. After all, if they did, they would swear in those same VA (and sometimes DoD) officials responsible for blowing billions of tax dollars.

But shouldn’t veterans issues be front and center? After all, we know our treatment of veterans is linked to our ability to recruit new troops as far back as George Washington. According to Washington:

“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation.”

Thus, treatment of veterans is a national security issue.

Someone should point out to Congress that we cannot defend our nation with football teams and baseball players. No, it takes real bravery to take a bullet for people you’ve never met halfway across the world. And, we veterans were willing to do this while making the equivalent of chicken feed when compared with the bloated salaries of American athletes.

On this subject, one veteran wrote in yesterday:

“I am a strong supporter of having Congress swear in the VA officials when they testify before Congressional committees. When a pro athlete is called before Congress to testify about steroid use in pro sports, they are sworn in and prosecuted if they lie. Is steroid use in pro sports more important than veteran deaths in VA medical facilities? I don’t think so.”

If you think this matter is something that burns your gullet, there is something you can do.

Sign on to a petition from MoveOn.org calling on Congress to change the status quo called, Stop the VA from Lying.

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3 Comments

  1. Lets see if congress gives a rats butt about us.

    My claim started 4 years ago and in May of 2013 I finally got my day in front of the Judge (BVA Hearing in Las Vegas). Well a few weeks later i called the BVA hotline to see where the case was sitting; They informed me they were still on 2010 Dockets and I have a 2012 Docket. 6 month to the day later I called the BVA Hotline to get the same answer “Sir we are on 2010 Dockets and you have a 2012 Docket”.

    I tried to explain to the person on the phone that I didn’t understand why my case was just sitting there, since all the BVA Judge had to question me about my claim ;was in 2006 why did I not mention my Navy injury on my Social Security disability claim in 2006 and I informed her I mentioned only my last two surgeries because the Social Security information person said if i mention the VA Back issue it would only slow down my claim. So I only listed the Back Surgeries as told by the Social Security office. She replied oh, that’s all I needed to know about. The rest of my BVA Hearing my attorney and I talked about the weather and other issues of politics (Being a smart A**here) when the Judge finally said I have enough information.

    Well you think since during the Regional Office in Reno had nothing else negative to say about my claim other than Speculation and BS that the BVA would of been decided mine soon (Since the VA Has no backing to what they said during my denial from the Reno RO), Nope, it sits in a file somewhere at the BVA with no merit for denial, waiting for me to go away.

    So far i contacted Senator Heller (NV) with no help (His assistant came back with the same story about the 2010 docket) . So I mailed a letter to Congressman Heck (NV) office. They never got it, so email it to his assistant (He replied “Got it”) and still no reply. So i contacted the 25 members of the House Committee of Veterans Affairs and C.c the President Office to ask why, what where and how? and a month later all I got back was an empty mailbox.

    So i contacted Mr. Jeff Millers office asking them to investigate my claim of wrong doing by the Reno Regional Office and his assistant informed me that they will send all Letters back to my Congressional Office. So I informed her of what happened, she replied that is all the Committee can do for me.

    In all of my letters to the Congress personal (including the 25 members of the House Committee of Veteran Affairs) and Senator Heck office. I have asked them to look into my case, not to put me in front but to investigate into wrong doing, so the next Veteran wont have to go through the same BS. But nope, none cares.

    So back to the original question, does Congress really care? Come on Vets, well all served under the same BS. It all was a different battle we served, but all under the same situation. We did what it took to get the job done, we got hurt doing it with a slim promise of being taking care of when we got out. And now they don’t care.

    The government of this great nation, loves us for what we did, but they don’t want to help out a Vet who put their butt on the line.

    It’s my opinion that the VA can run on Speculations and BS, with no evidence of what they disclaim as a denial for your claim. But you on the other hand can have the best evidence to support your claim, but they win because he have no rights. Its just sits and sits and sits, while they keep taking care of other countries and their pay raises and Other free stuff.

    Come on people of the U.S. We served proudly for you then, please stand up for us now. The VA Compensation system sucks and need a drastic change now. We are not looking for a hand out, just take care of us for what we deserve.

    God Bless our Veterans

    1. Very few people in the U.S. knows anything at all about veterans, the VA (The Blob), the VA Health Care System (The Big Blob), fighting ‘wars’, reasons for fighting wars (lies we are told to believe by our government on behalf of our corporations), where their tax money is distributed within the VA (and the DOD, and lets include the DOE), what the fuck PTSD is, the many hundreds of millions in bonuses paid to all the pertinent directors in the VA system to cut costs and the f____d decisions they make because they care about how to make bonus money for themselves, and much, much more.
      The people care about the schools they go to and their children go to and the money they wish to make and the economy (which is also fucked by the very same government policies). Not about veterans. They actually believe the VA is doing an efficient job for the vets and is vet-centric (vs. gov-centric). A tipical response from a male citizen in his 30’s or 40’s that never served in the armed services is “I would think the directors would be paid a bonus based on how many veterans they help – not on how much money they can save by chincing” My response is “It doesn’t work that way”.
      The Secretary of VA affairs, Shinsomething, is a whimp and has no idea of what goes on or how to address the problems. After all, his past job as some kind of general in the army was to obey his government, not to solve any problems for us vets.
      So, we are left with citizens, congresses, and all the people in charge of ‘The VA Show’ to keep things status quo and sucky. Their grand plan is to eliminate the amount of soldiers and sailors in the future by reducing the manpower on land with robots that run 100 miles an hour and Zumwalt class destroyers that use half the crew to operate because of the astronomical dollar electronics onboard that replace humans. Good for the corporations that build that electronic gear and charge the DOD huge bucks for it.
      Helping veterans is something they are trying to get away from more and more each passing year.
      What do we do? Find a way to embarass them to the taxpayers.

    2. When one has followed the chain of command I say next step is media. People can use the media for everything else I say it is a good way to let the people know. Lets not forget the economy we are in everyone can not afford cable television, or Internet/ computer. But one or the other they maybe able to see the news.

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