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As we celebrate another Veterans Day, as our men and women in uniform fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, we must ensure that our returning heroes come home to the health care that they need to fully recover and resume their lives.
But a close look at Sen. Norm Coleman’s record on veterans’ health care reveals that he has consistently sided with President George W. Bush and his Republican colleagues by putting tax breaks for big business and wealthy individuals ahead of increased funding for veterans’ health care.
In 2005, the Bush Administration admitted that it was underfunding veterans’ health care by $1 billion. Even after that startling admission, Coleman voted seven more times against granting the Department of Veterans Affairs the resources that it needs to help our returning soldiers and sailors.
Ten times in the Senate, Coleman has had the chance to improve health care for veterans by simply closing corporate tax loopholes or cutting, limiting or deferring tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. And 10 times out of 10, he stood up for the wealthy and the powerful, and voted against veterans — against VA hospitals, against mental-health care for veterans, against health care for military retirees.
And when it came to a proposal simply to ensure that all veterans have access to the health care and the prescription drugs that they need, Coleman didn’t just oppose the legislation, he actively blocked it from even coming to a vote.
No matter that the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans and Veterans of Foreign Wars all supported it.
No matter that nonpartisan research said it would let another 3 million veterans get health care and prescription drugs. And no matter that the percentage of uninsured is growing twice as fast as among veterans as among the general population — due directly to Bush-administration policies that have restricted eligibility for veterans care as a way of offsetting the out-of-control spending on the Iraqi civil war.
So Coleman’s repetitious, perfunctory, election-year claim that he is working hard to “stand up for veterans” rings hollow, both to veterans returning from today’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to the veterans of earlier conflicts around the globe, who rely on VA medical care as a reward for their service to our nation.
Our veterans stood up for our democracy. Democracy means not only the right of choosing our own leaders, but the right of holding them accountable, and replacing them when they won’t uphold our values — including the values on display in how we treat our veterans and how we are preparing to meet the needs of our most recent heroes.
Unfortunately for the Minnesota veterans who stood up for democracy, Coleman won’t stand up for them. His moneyed masters won’t let him.
So let’s not just talk about standing up for veterans. Let’s actually stand up for them. And let’s hold accountable the fair-weather politicians who would score cheap political points on them without actually standing up for them.
Melendez is chairman of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party.
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kevin11 wrote on Nov 13, 2007 8:45 PM: