Republicans Demonstrate Their Disdain for Veterans--Again
Wrapping oneself in the flag is a tactic fascists use to create the illusion they're "looking out for the country" while promoting policies that do the exact opposite.
Back in July, 41 senators voted to kill the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act, a bipartisan bill designed to expand health care and disability benefits for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals and burn pits, in retaliation for Democrats passing the Inflation Reduction Act.
The PACT Act, “the most significant expansion of benefits and services for toxic exposed veterans in more than 30 years,” ultimately had enough bipartisan support to pass without those 41 senators’ votes.
This week, though, 49 republican House members demonstrated their own disdain for veterans when they voted against the Food Security for All Veterans Act, legislation designed to establish an Office of Food Security at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
Georgia’s Rick Allen and Andrew Clyde.
Texas’ Jodey Arrington, Dan Crenshaw, and Michael Cloud.
Indiana’s Jim Baird.
North Carolina’s Dan Bishop.
Alabama’s Mo Brooks.
Colorado’s Ken Buck.
Tennessee’s Tim Burchett.
Kentucky’s James Comer.
Some of those who voted against it, like Dan Crenshaw, are veterans themselves.
Its sponsor, newly sworn in Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, said on the House floor of her first bill:
“There is nothing more important than ensuring our veterans and their families can enjoy a safe and healthy life after their service to our country.”
With Democrats holding a slim majority, the bill passed 376–49.
Imagine the congressional majority had been in republicans’ hands.
That bill and likely the PACT Act — in addition to the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, the American Rescue Plan, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act—would never have passed.
Republicans work for one constituent — the wealthy.
That’s it.
They know, however, they can’t win by admitting their fealty to the economic royalists, so they have to suck up to their base’s racists, xenophobes, and misogynists with wedge issues and faux outrage.
Wrapping oneself in the flag is a tactic fascists use to create the illusion they’re “looking out for the country” while promoting policies that do the exact opposite.
If any of the aforementioned House members who voted against the Food Security for All Veterans Act represent you, give them a call at 202–224–3121.