10/21/10

This week the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America (IAVA), a nonpartisan veteran's advocacy organization, released a scorecard for Congress on veteran's issues.  The results are pretty clear: despite conservative rhetoric about supporting the troops, progressives are stronger at keeping America's promises to its troops.  Veterans' services took a heavy toll from years of neglect, underfunding and poor war planning.  IAVA's scorecard focuses on legislation to clean up the mess and deliver on America's promises.  On the issues of education, mental health screening and access to retroactive pay, progressives have demonstrated strong leadership.  Yet, disregarding reality, conservatives continue to go on the attack and claim that progressives are "anti-defense" or not "a friend of America's heroes."  In fact, on the campaign trail conservatives have actually taken their already unpopular outlook on veterans issues - which led to their poor rating from IAVA - to an extreme.  A number of candidates including the Sharron Angle and Ken Buck have called for privatizing and dismantling the Department of Veterans Affairs.  And Pat Toomey actually described pay increases for troops as "wasteful."  We as a country have work left to do to keep our promises to the troops and makes sure they receive the benefits they have earned.  It's our duty.

IAVA report card shows real support for troops comes from progressives. Yesterday the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America released their congressional scorecard, saying "After nine years of war, it has never been so important to care for our newest generation of veterans. For the more than 2.1 million men and women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, our country has a moral obligation to support them upon returning home." The report card scores Members of Congress on their support for veterans' legislation. The results are clear: While conservatives offer empty rhetoric about supporting the troops, progressives act to keep America's promises. Of the nine senators who are given an "A" grade by IAVA, all nine are progressives. On the house side, of the 85 members of congress who received "A" scores, 81 were progressives.

The bills scored reflect a commonsense veterans agenda:  funding the VA two years in advance to prevent funding from becoming a political football; ensuring that every servicemember returning from Iraq and Afghanistan receives person-to-person mental health screening by a qualified professional; improved health care for women veterans and allow caregivers of wounded warriors to receive training, access to health care and a living stipend. Also, according to IAVA, "Other achievements in the first half of the 111th Congress include: prohibiting the use of open-air burn pits; authorizing retroactive pay for servicemembers stop-lossed since 9/11; providing access to unused GI Bill benefits for children of fallen servicemembers; and funding the VA for FY 10 and FY 11 at record levels." Measuring support for all those crucial initiatives, IAVA finds progressives at the forefront of ensuring the troops get the care and support they deserve. [IAVA, 2010]

Conservatives block support for veterans, in Congress and on the campaign trail. In contrast to progressives, conservatives earned low grades from IAVA when it comes to supporting the troops and veterans. Of the 121 members of Congress who received "D" scores, 111 were conservatives. And of the 33 senators who received a "D" grade from IAVA, 32 of them were conservatives, including some of the most vocal senators on military issues, including Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John McCain (R-AZ) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).  John McCain's empty rhetoric should be especially galling: While McCain earned a "D" on supporting the troops, at a rally for Carly Fiorina in California McCain called Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) the "most bitterly partisan, most anti-defense senator in the United States Senate today."  Fiorina added, "This is not a senator who is a friend of America's heroes and it is something we must hold her accountable for on November 2^nd."  Meanwhile, Boxer (D-CA) earned an "A" rating on supporting the troops.

Similarly, on the campaign trail, conservatives are fighting to cut back support for the troops:

Sharron Angle, Ken Buck want to privatize the VA, against veterans' wishes. In an interview with a Nevada NPR affiliate on May 19, Angle said "it's proper that the VA isn't covering her father's prescription drugs ‘if' we ‘are working towards a privatized system.'" Ken Buck declared in an interview in June: "Would a Veterans Administration hospital that is run by the private sector be better run than by the public sector?" Buck answered. "In my view, yes." [Sharron Angle, via Nevada Public Radio, 5/19/10. Washington Post, 6/14/10. Ken Buck via the Denver Post, 9/24/10]

But as VoteVets President Jon Soltz explains: "Even at the worst of times, when the Bush administration underfunded the VA by billions, leading to backlogs and some real horror stories, the Veterans Health Administration, which administers care, consistently hovered at 80 percent approval among its patients, higher than those in the private system." [Jon Soltz via Huffington Post, 8/20/09]

Pat Toomey voted against "wasteful spending"-- $1,500 bonuses for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. On Oct. 17, 2003, then-Congressman Pat Toomey voted against the Stupak amendment to HR 3289, which would have given a $1,500 bonus to each soldier serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. [Roll Call 554, 10/17/03]

VoteVets's Richard Allen Smith writes: "During a press conference where he was challenged for his vote against a $1,500 combat bonus for troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Toomey said he voted that way because paying troops who risk their lives for America is ‘wasteful' and undermined ‘fiscal [r]esponsibility.' Yeah, he actually said that." [Richard Allen Smith, 10/1/10]

[John McCain, via The Hill, 10/16/10. Carly Fiorina, via 10 News, 10/17/10]

Work remains to be done, and strong leaders are needed in Congress. While progressives have taken a strong lead on veterans issues there still remains much to be done to keep America's promise to our veterans.  For example, IAVA's report says that, "Despite pressure from IAVA and other veterans services organizations (VSO's), Congress was unsuccessful in passing reform in four key areas: improving the outdated VA disability process, upgrading the Post-9/11 GI Bill, helping veterans find employment opportunities, and approving the VA budget. As a result of Congressional inaction, veterans are forced to wait another year for these critical improvements to the benefits and services that they have earned."  Other issues such as dwell time stand out as a particular concern.  In a piece for Foreign Policy, Robert Haddick described how "[t]he Army now considers a routine of 12 months deployed, 24 months home sustainable in the long run." [IAVA Action, 10/10. Robert Haddick, via Foreign Policy, 10/23/09]

What We're Reading

American and Afghan forces have been routing the Taliban in much of Kandahar Province in recent weeks, forcing many hardened fighters, faced with the buildup of American forces, to flee strongholds they have held for years.

Iran is secretly trying to set up banks in Muslim countries around the world, including Iraq and Malaysia, using dummy names and opaque ownership structures to skirt sanctions that have increasingly curtailed the Islamic republic's global banking activities.

The Defense Department has notified Congress that it wants to sell $60 billion worth of advanced aircraft and weapons to Saudi Arabia.

A U.S. satellite has detected increased activity at a North Korean nuclear weapons test site, suggesting it could be preparing for a third test in the coming months.

U.S. intelligence and security agencies are warning Congress and the telecommunications industry that an American company's plan to use Chinese components in cell-phone towers for the next generation wireless network will make communications vulnerable to electronic spying by Beijing.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will seek a sixth term in office in next year's elections.

China's economic growth rate slowed in the third quarter, rising only 9.6 percent after the government took steps to prevent overheating - but inflation last month hit its highest rate in nearly two years. 

With talks accelerating between the Afghan government and portions of the Afghan Taliban leadership hiding in Pakistan, the Pakistani government appears to have been brushed aside.

A Pentagon team has been reviewing copies of Iraq war documents the website WikiLeaks may release in coming days and plans to notify Iraqis named in the documents in an effort to minimize potential damage from the security breach.

Among the last places on earth with rich, untapped mineral deposits, Mongolia is expected to become one of the world's fastest-growing economies over the next decade -- if, that is, it can address a set of daunting challenges.

Commentary of the Day

Frida Ghitis writes about why China can soon challenge U.S. global power on a scale beyond that which it has already reached.

Roger Cohen outlines 10 points of note if Israel-Palestinian talks resume.

Srinath Raghavan argues that India's recent election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council provides it an opportunity to wet its feet as a major power internationally.