SHAME: Backlog of Veterans' Disability Claims Increases 179% Under Obama

waltky · Sep 9, 2015

IG's report is in...

IG Report: 300,000 Veterans Died While Waiting for Health Care at VA
Sep 04, 2015 WASHINGTON -- More than 300,000 American military veterans likely died while waiting for health care -- and nearly twice as many are still waiting -- according to a new Department of Veterans Affairs inspector general report.

The IG report says "serious" problems with enrollment data are making it impossible to determine exactly how many veterans are actively seeking health care from the VA, and how many were. For example, "data limitations" prevent investigators from determining how many now-deceased veterans applied for health care benefits or when. But the findings would appear to confirm reports that first surfaced last year that many veterans died while awaiting care, as their applications got stuck in a system that the VA has struggled to overhaul. Some applications, the IG report says, go back nearly two decades. The report addresses serious issues with the record-keeping itself.

A visitor leaves the Sacramento Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Rancho Cordova, Calif.

More than half the applications listed as pending as of last year do not have application dates, and investigators "could not reliably determine how many records were associated with actual applications for enrollment" in VA health care, the report said. The report also says VA workers incorrectly marked thousands of unprocessed health-care applications as completed and may have deleted 10,000 or more electronic "transactions" over the past five years. Linda Halliday, the VA's acting inspector general, said the agency's Health Eligibility Center "has not effectively managed its business processes to ensure the consistent creation and maintenance of essential data" and recommended a multi-year plan to improve accuracy and usefulness of agency records.

Halliday's report came in response to a whistleblower who said more than 200,000 veterans with pending applications for VA health care were likely deceased. The inspector general's report substantiated that claim and others, but said there was no way to tell for sure when or why the person died. Similarly, deficiencies in the VA's information security -- including a lack of audit trails and system backups -- limited investigators' ability to review some issues fully and rule out data manipulation, Halliday said. The VA has said it has no way to purge the list of dead applicants, and said many of those listed in the report are likely to have used another type of insurance before they died.

MORE
Click to expand...

FreshAir · Sep 9, 2015

Obama made it so they could go to a hospital if their was a wait, so this should not be happening anymore, it was a good change

personally I think whenever we start a war, they should have to pay for college of students to get them ramped up to take the increased work load from our injured soldier

we can't only think about weapons, we have to think about healthcare when they return too

if one is disabled in war, they should get a congressional retirement plan too.... same ones congress gets

.

waltky · Sep 29, 2015

Gov't. feather-bedders May Face Charges for Abusing Positions for Personal Gain...

VA Officials May Face Charges for Abusing Positions for Personal Gain
Sep 28, 2015 | Two senior Department of Veterans Affairs officials could face criminal prosecution after the agency investigators found they coerced two VA regional office directors to leave their jobs so that they could then fill them.

Diana Rubens had been a deputy under secretary for field operations until she took over as director for Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Philadelphia in June 2014. Kimberly Graves, formerly director of the Veterans Benefits Administration's Eastern Area Office (now called the North Atlantic District) took over as director of the St. Paul, Minnesota, VARO in October 2014. "Our analysis of available evidence indicated two directors appear to have been inappropriately coerced to leave positions they were not interested in leaving to create vacancies for Ms. Rubens and Ms. Graves," the IG investigators said in the report.

The IG made criminal referrals to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia on the actions "orchestrated" by Rubens and Graves and said formal decisions on whether to prosecute are pending. Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said he expects the federal attorney's office to weigh the criminal referral and, if warranted, prosecute the officials "to the fullest extent of the law." "This report is simply the latest in a long line of investigations showing VA officials helping themselves instead of helping America's veterans," Miller said.

The IG also is recommending the VA look into disciplinary actions against several officials for their roles in Rubens' move to Philadelphia, including VBA Under Secretary Allison Hickey, who told investigators she picked Rubens for the job. Rubens and Graves both moved into jobs that carried much less responsibility and fell lower on the SES pay scale than they were getting, but retained their high six-figure salaries. Rubens was earning $181,000 and Graves $174,000.

MORE http://www.military.com/daily-news/...-charges-abusing-positions-personal-gain.html
Click to expand...

waltky · Oct 22, 2015

Congress gettin' in the way of VA abuse of power probe...

Congress Hampering Probes of VA Abuse of Power: Department Officials
Oct 21, 2015 | A U.S. House of Representatives inquiry into allegations that senior executives at the Veterans Affairs Department abused their positions of authority hampers ongoing investigations, agency officials said.

Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson made the warning in a letter Tuesday to House Veterans Affairs Committee Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, explaining why he would not allow five VA executives to testify before the House panel on Wednesday on allegations raised in a report by the department's office of the inspector general. "[This] committee's questioning VA witnesses about the individual accountability issues raised in the OIG report creates the appearance that accountability actions may have been pre-decided," Gibson wrote. "The OIG report ... is not evidence, but simply the investigator's summary of what they believed the evidence to show." In addition to the VA's investigation, the U.S. Attorney's office is also reviewing the IG report to determine if criminal charges should be brought against anyone.

Gibson said that while the IG report came out last month, he only received on Oct. 16 the "full evidentiary record" upon which investigators drew their conclusions. "It is critical that I be afforded the opportunity to review the evidence and make the necessary decisions independent of undue external influence," he wrote. "I ask, simply, that the Committee wait until the appropriate time to question witnesses about these still-pending matters." But the House committee on Wednesday voted to subpoena the five witnesses, including former Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey, who resigned from her position last week. The five must now appear before the panel on Nov. 2. During the hearing, Miller said Gibson informed the committee last week that none of the witnesses the panel asked to hear from would attend, but that he would testify on behalf of the VA. Miller rejected Gibson's bid to testify.

In addition to Hickey, the lawmakers have subpoenaed Diana Rubens, director of the VA's Philadelphia Regional Office; Kimberley Graves, director of the St. Paul, Minnesota, Regional Office; Antoine Waller, director of the Baltimore Regional Office; and Robert McKenrick, director of the Los Angeles Regional Office. According to the IG report, Rubens had been a deputy under secretary for field operations until she took over as director for Philadelphia post in June 2014, replacing McKenrick. McKenrick told the IG he was told to take the Los Angeles position or lose his job. Graves, formerly director of the Veterans Benefits Administration's Eastern Area Office (now called the North Atlantic District) took over as director of the St. Paul position in October 2014. Waller, who had held that position, told investigators he reluctantly left it for the Baltimore position after Graves' subordinate told him his name had already been given to VA Secretary Bob McDonald for the job and he was expected to take it.

MORE
Click to expand...

See also:

Missouri Woman Sentenced for Defrauding Veterans Program
Oct 21, 2015 — A 70-year-old Missouri woman has been sentenced to 20 months in federal prison for defrauding a federal program designed to award contracts to businesses owned by service-disabled veterans.

U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom says Mary Parker of Blue Springs, Missouri, pleaded guilty in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas, to one count of aiding and abetting wire fraud. She admitted helping her son, Warren Parker, and her son, Michael Parker, in making false claims for their company, Silver Star Construction of Blue Springs and Stilwell, Kansas.

Prosecutors say the company obtained more than $6.7 million in contracts from the Department of Veterans Affairs. An investigation determined that Warren Parker never was classified as a service-disabled vet. He was sentenced in 2012 to 87 months in prison.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...an-sentenced-defrauding-veterans-program.html
Click to expand...

Related:

Congress Subpoenas VA Officials Over IG Allegations
Oct 21, 2015 | Congress has issued subpoenas to five Veterans Affairs Department employees after they failed to show up and testify before a House panel on Wednesday in connection with a damning inspector general report alleging misuse of authority and a VA relocation program.

House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, said he asked on Oct. 1 that the five -- former Under Secretary for Benefits Allison Hickey, Diana Rubens, director of the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Regional Office, Kimberley Graves, director of the St. Paul, Minnesota Regional Office, Antione Waller, director of the Baltimore Maryland Regional Office and Robert McKenrick, director of the Los Angeles Regional Office -- to testify on the IG allegations. "As you can see, their seats are empty and apparently they will not appear at today's hearing," Miller said. The hearing stems from a VA IG report that concluded Rubens and Graves used their positions to push the former Philadelphia and St. Paul regional directors out of their jobs so they could fill them. The report also found they improperly benefited from a relocation assistance program that provided them hundreds of thousands of dollars to move to their new locations.

Rubens had been a deputy under secretary for field operations until she took over as director for Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Philadelphia in June 2014. Graves, formerly director of the Veterans Benefits Administration's Eastern Area Office (now called the North Atlantic District) took over as director of the St. Paul, Minnesota, position in October 2014. Acting VA Inspector General Linda Halliday told lawmakers Wednesday that the Justice Department is currently reviewing the IG's findings, which it forwarded to the department for possible criminal charges. McKenrick, who was transferred from Philadelphia to the Los Angeles regional office, told the IG he was told to take the LA position or lose his job. Waller reluctantly left as director of the St. Paul regional office for the Baltimore position after Graves' subordinate told him his name had already been given to VA Secretary Bob McDonald for the job and he was expected to take it.

Acting VA Inspector General Linda Halliday told lawmakers that VBA used reassignments through its job change and relocation assistance programs as a way to increase senior executive salary pay during a time when SES salaries were frozen and bonuses halted. "During an interview, we asked [Hickey] if salary increases and relocation incentives were a way to get around pay freezes and bans on performance bonuses," Halliday said in her testimony. "The Under Secretary stated that the salary increases were about ‘level-setting pay.'" Hickey also said the increases and incentives were more about resetting base pay to get everybody into "a more even, more fair model," Halliday told the House panel. Hickey resigned her job last week amid growing pressure from lawmakers and veterans groups for allowing Rubens and Graves to move into their new jobs and benefit from the relocation program that saw Rubens pick up $274,000 in moving assistance and Graves $129,000.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/...bpoenas-va-officials-over-ig-allegations.html
Click to expand...

Iriemon · Oct 22, 2015

Backlog of veterans claims dips below 100,000 cases
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/...24/veterans-affairs-va-backlog-100k/32269671/

VA claims backlog now under 100,000 – lowest in department history
This week, VA reduced the disability claims backlog to 98,535. This is the lowest it has ever been in VA’s history, and it represents an 84-percent reduction from its peak of 611,000 claims in March 2013.
http://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/224...ow-under-100000-lowest-in-department-history/

fiddlerdave · Oct 22, 2015

Iriemon said: ↑

Backlog of veterans claims dips below 100,000 cases
http://www.militarytimes.com/story/...24/veterans-affairs-va-backlog-100k/32269671/

VA claims backlog now under 100,000 lowest in department history
This week, VA reduced the disability claims backlog to 98,535. This is the lowest it has ever been in VAs history, and it represents an 84-percent reduction from its peak of 611,000 claims in March 2013.
http://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/224...ow-under-100000-lowest-in-department-history/
Click to expand...

This is worth repeating - particularly that the Republican's terrible VA record used the strategy of regularly denying claims to save Republican money - the wholesale blocking Agent Orange claims, denying "mental" claims
men and any other dirty trick the Republicans could figure out to make our veterans live in squalor in poverty and/or homelessness while the Republican owners of the war machine go ever fatter.

Iriemon · Oct 27, 2015

fiddlerdave said: ↑

This is worth repeating - particularly that the Republican's terrible VA record used the strategy of regularly denying claims to save Republican money - the wholesale blocking Agent Orange claims, denying "mental" claims
men and any other dirty trick the Republicans could figure out to make our veterans live in squalor in poverty and/or homelessness while the Republican owners of the war machine go ever fatter.
Click to expand...

How many threads and posts and pages and articles and newscasts did we see about the VA backlog and blaming it on Obama?

How many have we seen about the backlog being reduced to the lowest level ever?

Don't tell me the RW propaganda media doesn't dominate the information channels.

Zorro · Dec 8, 2015

VA Refuses To Terminate Employees Who Have Sex In Office, High On Cocaine During Work

http://dailycaller.com/2015/12/06/v...ve-sex-in-office-high-on-cocaine-during-work/

waltky · Jun 4, 2016

Sharon Helman scores legal win...

Fired Phoenix VA Director Scores Legal Win, Sparks Outrage
Jun 03, 2016 | WASHINGTON -- The former director of Phoenix veterans hospitals who was at the center of a 2014 wait-time scandal scored a major legal win this week, shooting down sections of a law allowing the Department of Veterans Affairs to quickly fire misbehaving employees.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Tuesday that the law fast-tracking firings is unconstitutional because VA employees cannot appeal a final decision by an administrative judge. Lynch and President Barack Obama's administration have sided with Sharon Helman, who is suing in federal court over her 2014 termination from the VA for accepting a trip to Disneyland and other gifts. The decision by Lynch is new evidence of the VA's faltering efforts to fire executives and employees when it deems them guilty of misconduct. It also undercuts a key reform passed by Congress in the months following the nationwide VA scandal, which erupted after a doctor in Phoenix said veterans were dying while waiting for care at the facilities overseen by Helman.

The Obama administration is sending the message that "the sanctity of a federal bureaucrat's job is far more important than the health and well-being of our veterans," said Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, an architect of the law. McCain blasted the president for originally touting and signing the law. Other Republicans also voiced outrage over the decision. "The effect of this reckless action is clear. It undermines very modest reforms to our broken civil service system supported in 2014 by the president and an overwhelming majority of Congress," said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Sharon Helman, director of the Phoenix VA Health Care System.

In the past, employees had the option of appealing their termination to the Merit Systems Protection Board -- a panel appointed by the president -- in a process that could typically take months. But a joint VA-White House investigation during the wait-time scandal found a "corrosive culture" and widespread poor management at veterans hospitals and clinics across the country. The findings added urgency to VA efforts to quickly root out bad employees. A $16 billion reform law passed by Congress in 2014 dramatically scaled back the appeals process, ordering an administrative judge to make a final decision within 21 days -- with no appeal options -- on whether to uphold the firing. But Lynch now contends the law violates the Constitution because it allows nobody to review the judge's decision, including VA Secretary Bob McDonald.

The law "vests a federal employee with the final authority -- unreviewable by any politically accountable officer of the executive branch -- to determine whether to uphold the removal of a [VA] senior executive, which includes the power to overrule the decision of a cabinet-level officer," Lynch wrote in a letter to Republican leadership in the House. Lynch said the Justice Department will no longer defend the law in court against Helman and other challengers. But the Justice Department will continue to defend against the other constitutional violations charged in Helman's federal lawsuit.

MORE
Click to expand...

liberalminority · Jun 5, 2016

waltky said: ↑

Sharon Helman scores legal win...

Fired Phoenix VA Director Scores Legal Win, Sparks Outrage
Jun 03, 2016 | WASHINGTON -- The former director of Phoenix veterans hospitals who was at the center of a 2014 wait-time scandal scored a major legal win this week, shooting down sections of a law allowing the Department of Veterans Affairs to quickly fire misbehaving employees.
Click to expand...

its hard for liberals to criticize the institutions they've created, even when they are filled with conservatives.

a federal bureaucrat's job can be held by a democrat or a republican, and function the way either wants to use their position.

waltky · Sep 10, 2016

VA system rigged for failure...

Union Bosses, VA Bosses Rigging System for Failure
Sep 05, 2016 | U.S. Rep. Jeff Miller, a Republican from Chumuckla, Florida, is the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. The views expressed in this commentary are his own.

In an expletive-laden rant delivered earlier this year, a belligerent American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox threatened Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald with physical violence. Cox was "prepared to whoop Bob McDonald's a--," he said. "He's going to start treating us as the labor partner or we will whoop his a--, I promise you," Cox continued. McDonald's response? Absolutely nothing.

The exchange perfectly encapsulates the corrosive influence government union bosses are having on efforts to reform a broken VA. It's a never-ending cycle in which pliant politicians and federal agency leaders bow to the bosses' demands to preserve the dysfunctional status quo of our federal personnel system, which almost guarantees employment for government bureaucrats no matter how egregious their behavior.

A visitor leaves the Sacramento Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Rancho Cordova, Calif.

The problem with union bosses like Cox is that they are more interested in protecting misbehaving VA employees than the veterans the department was created to serve. The problem with VA leaders like McDonald is that, in their perpetual quest to placate big labor's powers that be, the taxpayers and veterans they are charged with serving are paying the price. It's no wonder McDonald was silent after Cox's violent threats. Cox's bellicose behavior is precisely the type of employee conduct VA leaders and union bosses routinely defend.

Take the case of a VA Caribbean Healthcare System employee who AFGE helped to keep her job after she participated in an armed robbery. Unwilling to admit the crucial role AFGE union bosses played in helping the criminal keep her job, VA has offered a series of outrageous excuses in order to explain her continued employment. "There was never any indication that the employee posed a risk to Veterans or VA property," VA Under Secretary for Health David Shulkin said, adding that the employee couldn't be terminated for her armed robbery participation because it occurred in her free time. Really?

The fact that AFGE routinely defends the indefensible among VA employees is not surprising. After all, the organization's first loyalty is to government workers above everyone else. What's disappointing, however, is VA leaders' refusal to challenge AFGE and its tactics. VA's silence is more proof that the bosses -- both VA and union -- are all part of the same system, which specializes in protecting its own. Consider how VA safeguarded two senior bureaucrats when the department's inspector general caught them orchestrating a scheme to rake in thousands in taxpayer-funded relocation benefits.

MORE
Click to expand...

FreshAir · Sep 10, 2016

"SHAME: Backlog of Veterans' Disability Claims Increases 179% Under Obama "

Obama allows anyone on that list to visit a real hospital and cost is covered, the backlog always increases after republicans start two 10+ year wars, they should be required to have a war tax to help support these folks when they return home

waltky · Sep 16, 2016

Changes comin' `round to the VA...

House Passes Legislation to Reform VA, Change Appeals Process
Sep 15, 2016 | WASHINGTON -- The House passed Department of Veterans Affairs reform legislation Wednesday evening that would change the process veterans use to appeal benefits claims and make it easier for the agency to fire bad employees.

"This bill is about accountability," said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Florida, who introduced the legislation. "This bill is trying to give the [VA] secretary the tools he needs in order to hold employees accountable. We need to move forward." The VA Accountability First and Appeals Modernization Act, with amendments, passed by a 310-116 vote. House Democrats, led by Rep. Mark Takano, D-California, ranking member of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, proposed some of the bill's amendments just before it was passed Wednesday. Many of the additions were aimed at different kinds of VA reform, including language seeking to improve the VA's ability to recruit physicians.

Before the vote, Takano, who ended up voting against the bill, thanked Miller for working to get some form of veterans legislation through the House. But Takano said he and Miller were "at odds on the underlying bill." Instead, Takano and other Democrats voiced support during debate for a competing bill stalled in the Senate, the Veterans First Act. The Senate bill contains dozens of VA reforms, some of which Democrats attempted to get added to Miller's bill.

One amendment passed Wednesday orders the VA to annually survey veterans about their experiences receiving agency health care. Another amendment requires the VA secretary to review whistleblower complaints on a quarterly basis. "Eighty amendments were offered on this legislation, 22 were accepted, and a vast number of Democratic amendments were accepted and allowed to be debated on the floor," Miller said. Sixty-nine Democrats voted to approve the legislation. Support was widespread to restructure the process used by veterans to appeal decisions on their benefits claims. But President Barack Obama's administration, the VA and a federal employee union have made known their concerns about language in the bill to fast-track discipline against VA employees, particularly executives, for misconduct or poor performance.

Miller introduced the bill in July in response to a federal appeals board reversing a series of disciplinary actions against VA executives in malfeasance cases. The legislation would set a time limit the appeals board has to decide a case, and it would remove the board from the process of disciplinary action against senior executives. The Obama administration issued a statement earlier this week, saying that part of the bill would strip VA employees of their rights, raising questions about its constitutionality. "The administration believes that the approach to accountability in the legislation -- focused primarily on firing or demoting employees without appropriate or meaningful procedural protections -- is misguided and burdensome," the statement reads.

MORE
Click to expand...

See also:

House Approves Bill to Make It Easier to Fire at VA
Sep 15, 2016 | WASHINGTON -- The House approved a bill Wednesday aimed at making it easier for the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire employees for misconduct or poor performance -- a source of ongoing tension with the Obama administration.

The Republican-sponsored bill was approved, 310-116. Sixty-nine Democrats and 241 Republicans voted for the bill. It would shorten the time employees are given to respond to proposed discipline or firing and would eliminate a provision that allows senior executives to appeal disciplinary actions to an independent review board. GOP lawmakers have been urging the VA to fire more workers as a key step to improving the scandal-plagued agency. House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller said a "pervasive lack of accountability among employees at all levels" is "the biggest obstacle standing in the way of VA reform."

The House bill is the latest in a series of efforts by lawmakers to respond to a two-year-old scandal over chronic delays for veterans seeking medical care, and falsified records covering up the long waits. Veterans on secret waiting lists faced scheduling delays of up to a year, and as many as 40 veterans died while awaiting care at the Phoenix VA hospital in Arizona, according to an investigation by the VA's inspector general. Similar problems were soon discovered at VA medical centers nationwide, affecting thousands of veterans and prompting an outcry in Congress.

Miller, R-Florida, said reform efforts "are doomed to fail" until the problem of employee accountability is fixed. "For too long, union bosses, administration officials and their enablers have used every trick in the book to help VA bureaucrats who can't or won't do their jobs remain firmly entrenched in the agency's bureaucracy," he said. The accountability bill he sponsored "gets rid of loopholes" that have "protected deadwood employees for years," Miller said. "Union bosses and defenders of the broken status quo will oppose this bill, and that is exactly why it must become law."

The American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents 230,000 VA employees, said the bill would undermine veterans' health care and other services by gutting employees' due process rights to challenge wrongful firing or retaliation against whistleblowers. "If Congress passes this bill, frontline employees who dare to speak up against mismanagement and patient harm will face retaliation, harassment and the loss of their jobs," said union president J. David Cox Sr. Cox called the bill "a partisan effort to allow favoritism and cronyism" by turning VA workers into "at-will" employees who can be fired at any time with little to no recourse.

The Obama administration opposes the bill, saying it could "undermine VA's workforce" and ultimately hinder services to veterans. In a statement Monday, the White House said the bill's focus on firing or demoting employees without procedural protections "is misguided and burdensome. ... This approach significantly alters and diminishes important rights and protections that are available to the vast majority of other employees across the government and which are essential to safeguarding employees' rights and the merit system."

MORE
Click to expand...

juanvaldez · Sep 16, 2016

The VA is a charity hospital for anyone who served 2 years in the military. They are mostly treating self inflicted conditions, COPD, diabetes, drug addiction and alcoholism.

The military never promised free medical care. What they did promise was to fix anything they broke. I have several friends with service connected disabilities, one lost both legs in Grenada, another had a total malfunction on a jump and lived. Both receive prompt, excellent care.

I have little sympathy for some drug addict who has to wait.

ArmySoldier · Sep 16, 2016

FreshAir said: ↑

"SHAME: Backlog of Veterans' Disability Claims Increases 179% Under Obama "

Obama allows anyone on that list to visit a real hospital and cost is covered, the backlog always increases after republicans start two 10+ year wars, they should be required to have a war tax to help support these folks when they return home
Click to expand...

From 1998-2002. Beginning in the Clinton Administration:

"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line."
President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998. *

"Together we must also confront the new hazards of chemical and biological weapons, and the outlaw states, terrorists and organized criminals seeking to acquire them. Saddam Hussein has spent the better part of this decade, and much of his nation's wealth, not on providing for the Iraqi people, but on developing nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them."
President Clinton, Jan. 27, 1998. * video

"Fateful decisions will be made in the days and weeks ahead. At issue is nothing less than the fundamental question of whether or not we can keep the most lethal weapons known to mankind out of the hands of an unreconstructed tyrant and aggressor who is in the same league as the most brutal dictators of this century."
Sen. Joe Biden (D, DE), Feb. 12, 1998 *

"It is essential that a dictator like Saddam not be allowed to evade international strictures and wield frightening weapons of mass destruction. As long as UNSCOM is prevented from carrying out its mission, the effort to monitor Iraqi compliance with Resolution 687 becomes a dangerous shell game. Neither the United States nor the global community can afford to allow Saddam Hussein to continue on this path."
Sen. Tom Daschle (D, SD), Feb. 12, 1998 *

"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face."
Madeleine Albright, Feb. 18, 1998. *

"He will use those weapons of mass destruction again, as he has ten times since 1983."
Sandy Berger, Clinton National Security Adviser, Feb. 18, 1998. *

"We urge you, after consulting with Congress, and consistent with the U.S. Constitution and laws, to take necessary actions (including, if appropriate, air and missile strikes on suspect Iraqi sites) to respond effectively to the threat posed by Iraq's refusal to end its weapons of mass destruction programs."
Letter to President Clinton, signed by Sens. Carl Levin, Tom Daschle, John Kerry, and others Oct. 9, 1998. *

"As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I am keenly aware that the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons is an issue of grave importance to all nations. Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998. *

"Hussein has ... chosen to spend his money on building weapons of mass destruction and palaces for his cronies."
Madeleine Albright, Clinton Secretary of State, Nov. 10, 1999. *

"This December will mark three years since United Nations inspectors last visited Iraq. There is no doubt that since that time, Saddam Hussein has reinvigorated his weapons programs. Reports indicate that biological, chemical and nuclear programs continue apace and may be back to pre-Gulf War status. In addition, Saddam continues to refine delivery systems and is doubtless using the cover of a licit missile program to develop longer-range missiles that will threaten the United States and our allies."
Letter to President Bush, Signed by Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL) and others, Dec, 5, 2001. *

"We begin with the common belief that Saddam Hussein is a tyrant and a threat to the peace and stability of the region. He has ignored the mandate of the United Nations and is building weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them."
Sen. Carl Levin (D, MI), Sept. 19, 2002. *

"We know that he has stored away secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002. *

"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002. *

"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002. *

"The last UN weapons inspectors left Iraq in October 1998. We are confident that Saddam Hussein retains some stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and that he has since embarked on a crash course to build up his chemical and biological warfare capabilities. Intelligence reports indicate that he is seeking nuclear weapons..."
Sen. Robert Byrd (D, WV), Oct. 3, 2002. *

"My position is very clear: The time has come for decisive action to eliminate the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. I'm a co-sponsor of the bipartisan resolution that's presently under consideration in the Senate. Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave threat to America and our allies..."
John Edwards (D, NC), Oct. 7, 2002 * video

"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force — if necessary — to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002. *

"There is unmistakable evidence that Saddam Hussein is working aggressively to develop nuclear weapons and will likely have nuclear weapons within the next five years .... We also should remember we have always underestimated the progress Saddam has made in development of weapons of mass destruction."
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D, WV), Oct 10, 2002. *

"He has systematically violated, over the course of the past 11 years, every significant UN resolution that has demanded that he disarm and destroy his chemical and biological weapons, and any nuclear capacity. This he has refused to do."
Rep. Henry Waxman (D, CA), Oct. 10, 2002. *

"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members.... It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct. 10, 2002. * video

"We are in possession of what I think to be compelling evidence that Saddam Hussein has, and has had for a number of years, a developing capacity for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction.
Sen. Bob Graham (D, FL), Dec. 8, 2002. *

"Without question, we need to disarm Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal, murderous dictator, leading an oppressive regime .... He presents a particularly grievous threat because he is so consistently prone to miscalculation ... And now he is miscalculating America's response to his continued deceit and his consistent grasp for weapons of mass destruction .... So the threat of Saddam Hussein with weapons of mass destruction is real ...."
Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Jan. 23. 2003. *
Click to expand...

http://www.reasons-for-war-with-iraq.info/

Sources and videos/transcripts of speeches. Glad I helped clear up your confusion about the Iraq war.

FreshAir · Sep 16, 2016

ArmySoldier said: ↑

From 1998-2002. Beginning in the Clinton Administration:

http://www.reasons-for-war-with-iraq.info/

Sources and videos/transcripts of speeches. Glad I helped clear up your confusion about the Iraq war.
Click to expand...

and I agree, the next time republicans start a war, let's demand a war tax to help support our troops when they come home, as this is ridiculous

waltky · Nov 20, 2016

VA screwin' over Gulf War Vets with Brain Cancer...

Gulf War Vets with Brain Cancer Denied Fast-Track to Compensation
Nov 19, 2016 | Hundreds of veterans with terminal brain cancer and their families were close to being fast-tracked toward millions of dollars in government benefits and compensation -- before a White House decision this fall prevented it.

The White House denied a recommendation from the Department of Veterans Affairs that would establish a connection between brain cancer and service in the Persian Gulf War, fast-tracking VA benefits and compensation. As it stands, veterans and families have the burden of proving the connection - a process that can take years and require hundreds of pages of military and medical records. "What it means is years more of struggling," said Ron Brown, president of the National Gulf War Resource Center. "I just find that unacceptable. It's like leaving veterans and their families behind."

'An extreme burden'

Laura Edwards, 54, knows the struggle of trying to obtain VA benefits. After a recent phone conversation with a VA representative, she felt so frazzled she "couldn't remember my own phone number," she said. Her husband, retired U.S. Air Force Sgt. 1st Class David Edwards, died at 53 of glioblastoma -- a form of brain cancer -- in 2013. In the conversation with the VA that November morning, she had attempted to take another small step in a years-long process to prove her husband's brain cancer was a result of his service in the Persian Gulf War. "It's really stressful," she said. "It's a real sappy, horrible day." In 2015, the VA established a work group to decide whether there was a clear connection between brain cancer and servicemembers in Southwest Asia in 1990 and 1991, when troops were exposed to hazards such as oil-well fires and nerve agents.

An American servicemember tends a burn pit in the Saudi Arabian desert in 1991.

David Edwards had worked on generators at U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia with the 323rd Civil Engineering Squadron. Her late husband used to talk about the chemical alarms going off at the bases, Laura Edwards said, and he said their superiors told them the alarms were false. Later, studies would show that in some cases wind carried nerve agents from Khamisiyah in southern Iraq, triggering the alarms. Laura Edwards, now living alone in small Warrensburg, Mo., submitted her first claim to the VA in 2014 but it was quickly denied. According to a copy of that denial letter, she didn't provide enough supporting evidence. She has struggled, even with help from Brown and a local veterans service officer. In the ongoing effort to make her case, Edwards recently arranged the exchange of about 170 pages of medical records.

If the VA determines that Edwards' death stemmed from his service, Laura Edwards would be eligible for dependency and indemnity compensation. Those payments go to survivors of veterans whose deaths resulted from a service-related injury or disease. The current basic monthly payment is set at $1,254.19, or about $15,000 annually. For each child under 18, $310.71 is added to the payment. Brown, a Gulf War veteran, served with three men in the 1st Battalion, 504th Infantry Regiment, who were later diagnosed with brain cancer, he said. As president of the National Gulf War Resource Center, he's heard from spouses, including Edwards, asking for help to qualify for compensation. "It's very hard; there have been a very small number of veterans who have been successful at it," Brown said. "It places an extreme burden on the families."

Lacking evidence
Click to expand...

waltky · Dec 14, 2016

Feds lookin' into Congress' Claims VA Lied About Hospital Costs...

FBI Looks into Congress' Claims VA Lied About Hospital Costs
Dec 14, 2016 The Justice Department is considering whether to investigate allegations that Veterans Affairs Department executives lied to Congress to conceal massive cost overruns at a $1.7 billion VA hospital under construction outside Denver.

The FBI's Washington field office is reviewing the allegations, the Justice Department said in a letter to Congress. The letter was dated Dec. 9 and made public Tuesday. The FBI is part of the Justice Department. Lawmakers accuse VA executives of lying when they testified before the House Veterans Affairs Committee in 2013 and 2014 about the cost of the hospital in suburban Aurora. The current projected price tag is nearly triple the 2014 estimate. The VA declined to comment on the lawmakers' allegations. In a written statement, the department said it has already acknowledged mistakes on the project and made changes to its construction practices.

A bipartisan group of 21 lawmakers on the Veterans Affairs Committee asked for an investigation in September. The request came after the VA's internal watchdog office said Glenn Haggstrom, formerly the department's top official in charge of construction projects, knew the hospital cost was soaring but didn't tell Congress. The lawmakers also asked the Justice Department to look into congressional testimony by Stella Fiotes, director of the VA's Office of Construction and Facilities Management. Neither Haggstrom nor Fiotes immediately return phone messages Tuesday. Haggstrom and Fiotes told the committee that no cost overruns were expected and that the project would be finished at or near its budget of about $604 million, according to transcribed excerpts from the committee.

A construction crew works on concrete forms at the Veterans Administration hospital complex construction site, in Aurora, Colo.

Haggstrom retired in 2015, one day after he was questioned by VA officials about what went wrong, department officials have said. Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., said the Justice Department should investigate the two officials' testimony. "This case is a slam dunk, and it's imperative for Department of Justice officials to ensure justice is served," Miller said in a written statement. "It is an absolute fact that numerous VA officials repeatedly misled Congress regarding cost overruns," he said.

Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., a member of the committee, also said the FBI should investigate. "If they don't, and there are no consequences for federal officials of the executive branch to lie when they're under oath, then Congress simply cannot exercise its oversight," he said. Investigations into the hospital project have said mismanagement, delays and lax oversight by the VA added hundreds of millions of dollars to the cost and delayed it by years. Construction on the 184-bed facility is expected to be done in January 2018. It will replace an aging, overcrowded facility still in use in Denver.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/12/14/fbi-looks-congress-claims-va-lied-hospital-costs.html
Click to expand...

waltky · Feb 13, 2017

Congress needs to approve more VA medical facility leases...

Lawmakers Attempt Action on 24 VA Facilities in Limbo
Feb 11, 2017 | The VA must receive congressional approval to lease medical facilities with annual rent payments totaling more than $1 million

A handful of lawmakers are again making attempts to open 24 new Department of Veterans Affairs facilities across the country, some of which have been held up by Congress for two years. The VA must receive congressional approval to lease medical facilities with annual rent payments totaling more than $1 million, according to federal law. Combined, the 24 facilities -- most of them outpatient clinics -- would cost about $228 million during the lease periods, which in some cases can last 20 years. Congress has not approved a medical facility lease for the VA since 2014, said the office of Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. Warner and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, reintroduced legislation that would give the VA the go-ahead to open the clinics. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Calif., reintroduced a similar measure in the House.

One of the pending leases is for a new outpatient clinic in Hampton Roads, Va., totaling more than $18 million. In 2014, veterans at the Hampton VA Medical Center suffered the longest average wait times in the country for primary care, the Hampton Roads Daily Press reported. The wait times resulted from an increase in the number of patients, along with space and staff shortages. Warner, who represents Virginia in the Senate, said health care providers at the hospital need the clinic to better manage their workload. "Veterans deserve convenient access to the high-quality health care they have earned through their service," Collins said in a written statement. "These facilities... will allow veterans to receive outpatient care without the stress and difficulty of traveling to larger VA medical centers, which may be located far away from their homes."

One of the pending leases is an expanded outpatient clinic for Collins' constituency in Portland, Maine, totaling about $6.9 million. A $6.3 million clinic is planned for Oxnard, California, in Brownley's district. The facilities span 12 other states. Last May, 15 senators wrote to Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., -- chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee -- and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the committee, asking that they act to approve the 18 leases pending at the time.

The VA has also been struggling to work with Congress to gain the approvals. James Sullivan, director of the VA's Office of Asset Enterprise Management, told a House committee in September that many of the VA's 10- to 15-year leases are coming to an end. Without authorization for the new leases, some facilities might be forced to close and new ones might not open immediately, he said. "Without authorization from Congress, VA cannot begin work to secure needed leased space to meet the needs of veterans seeking VA health care," Sullivan testified. "Failure to receive authorization will have a growing and worsening effect on veteran access to care nationwide."

MORE
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

SHAME: Backlog of Veterans' Disability Claims Increases 179% Under Obama

waltky Well-Known Member

FreshAir Well-Known Member Past Donor

waltky Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

Iriemon Well-Known Member Past Donor

fiddlerdave Well-Known Member Past Donor

Iriemon Well-Known Member Past Donor

Zorro Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

liberalminority Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

FreshAir Well-Known Member Past Donor

waltky Well-Known Member

juanvaldez Banned

ArmySoldier Well-Known Member Past Donor

FreshAir Well-Known Member Past Donor

waltky Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Log in or Sign up

SHAME: Backlog of Veterans' Disability Claims Increases 179% Under Obama

waltky Well-Known Member

FreshAir Well-Known Member Past Donor

waltky Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

Iriemon Well-Known Member Past Donor

fiddlerdave Well-Known Member Past Donor

Iriemon Well-Known Member Past Donor

Zorro Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

liberalminority Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

FreshAir Well-Known Member Past Donor

waltky Well-Known Member

juanvaldez Banned

ArmySoldier Well-Known Member Past Donor

FreshAir Well-Known Member Past Donor

waltky Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

waltky Well-Known Member

Share This Page

Useful Searches