Senate GOP Obstructionists Throw Veterans Under The Bus-Vote Down Bill To Help Vets In Need Of Jobs

Logo of the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For those who continue to believe that obstructionism at any cost is not the goal of the Senate Republicans, consider the behavior of the GOP Senators who, on Friday, blocked a bi-partisan effort to pass a bill that would put veterans to work in jobs that look after the nation?s federal land while also giving our fighting men and women a leg up when it comes to getting them hired by local police and fire departments.

The legislation would have provided a relatively small allocation of $1 billion in funds to accomplish the goals of the program.

In order to bring the bill to the floor, a procedural vote was required to waive a technical limit placed on such spending as agreed to in Congress during last year?s budgetary fiasco. Despite the sum of money having been fully offset by cuts and modifications to other planned expenditures, Senate Republicans used the required vote to shoot down the proposed legislation as the Democrats, with some Republican assistance, were able to manage only 58 of the 60 votes required to accomplish the waiver.

Commenting on the loss, Senate Veterans? Affairs Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Washington) confirmed that the cost of the bill?which was to be spent over a five-year period?had been fully offset, thereby adding nothing to the deficit as a result of the effort.? But even the offset could not overcome the votes of the Republican Senators who would so willingly play politics to the profound detriment of those to whom we owe the most.

?A vote to support this point of order says that despite the fact that we have paid for this bill, despite the fact that one in four young veterans are out of work, despite the fact that veterans suicides are outpacing combat deaths, and despite the fact that more and more veterans are coming home, we are not going to invest in these challenges,? Murray said.

It was not just the Senate Democrats left stunned by the callous and ungrateful behavior of their peers.

GOP Senators Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins and Oympia Snow of Maine, and Dean Heller of Nevada joined with the opposition in the effort to provide our veterans with a bit of help.

While Senator Heller indicated that he was proud to support the bill, noting ?After everything our veterans have done for us, the least we can do is make sure they are afforded every opportunity to thrive here at home?, GOP Senator Tom Coburn provided the rationale for those who were in opposition?

?We ought to do nothing now that makes the problem worse for our kids and grandkids,?

Apparently, while Senator Coburn is consumed with worry over how a $1 billion spending bill might impact on our children and grandchildren somewhere down the road, the Senator?along with his unappreciative cohorts in the Senate?was unable to generate much concern for the more present and immediate impact their votes have on the children of our veterans who go off to risk their lives for their country and return unable to gain employment. One is additionally left to ponder what those veterans who did not make it home?leaving their children to live with the most immediate and tragic consequences?would think about Senator Coburn?s priorities.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/09/23/senate-gop-obstructionists-throw-veterans-under-the-bus-vote-down-bill-to-help-vets-in-need-of-jobs/

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