In the wake of everyone’s shock and awe at Eric Cantor’s stunning defeat this week, did anyone notice something on Capitol Hill that hasn’t happened in a long time?? Yes, that’s right… both houses of the United States actually did some WORK this week. Work that was not meeting with lobbyists or calling rich folks to beg for campaign cash. The House of Representatives passed a bill to improve VA healthcare UNANIMOUSLY!! And on Wednesday, the Senate passed a similar bill by and overwhelming margin. Your eyes are not deceiving you. Here’s the story from Politico…
The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed legislation aimed at increasing veterans’ access to health care and holding accountable bad actors in the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The legislation passed 93-3 and represents rare cooperation between the House and Senate, raising hopes that Congress is moving swiftly toward a VA reform compromise to send to the president’s desk. The Senate legislation largely mirrors similar proposals from the House, and lawmakers and aides do not expect a knock-down political fight as the two chambers iron out their discrepancies over the coming days…
…With the House unanimously passing veterans’ health care and accountability legislation that senators say is extraordinarily close to the version crafted by Sanders and John McCain (R-Ariz.), lawmakers across the Capitol are increasingly confident that the president will have a new veterans’ health law on his desk by the end of the month.
So the United States Congress decides to have a rare moment of clarity and help our nation’s heroes get the healthcare and services they deserve. This is great news, right? Well just today over on Fox News, the critics have come out swinging saying the bill could have a huge price tag when all is said and done.
Fiscal hawks are warning that new legislation passed in both chambers of Congress this week in response to the Veteran Affairs scandal could cost taxpayers more than $500 billion over the next decade.
A Senate source told FoxNews.com on Friday that lawmakers “passed a bill they didn’t read which led to Congress issuing a blank check with real consequences for the country down the road.”
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget rang the alarm bells over the bill on Thursday, releasing a statement saying the Senate version of the bill “violates every principle of good budgeting, and could add substantially to the national debt.”
This Fox News commentator doesn’t think our nation’s Vets are worth the investment. The bill may have a big price tag, and we of course would hope our legislators and their staff could always read things that they vote on, but if it helps to fix systemic problems plaguing the VA, then the American people should rally behind it. Our heroes are worth every penny and then some.
