28 Votes: McCain's Record Against Veterans

[IndianaGreen]

28 Votes: McCain's Record Against Veterans

By PA Staff Writers

10-12-08, 10:38 am

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In the first presidential debate, Sept. 27, John McCain professed love for veterans and insisted, "They know I'll take care of them." But his record is making many veterans doubt the basis for that claim.

Some veterans' groups have expressed strong criticisms of McCain's voting record on funding for veterans medical care. In its most recent legislative ratings, for example, the Disabled American Veterans gave McCain a 20 percent rating for his voting record on veterans’ issues.

Also, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America gave McCain a "D" grade for his poor voting record on veterans’ issues, including McCain’s votes against additional body armor for troops in combat and additional funding for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury screening and treatment.

In addition, both Veterans for America and Veterans of Foreign Wars recently expressed strong reservations about John McCain's proposal to eliminate guaranteed medical care for veterans by privatizing certain parts of the system.

Likewise, Joe Violanti, legislative director of the Disabled American Veterans, told one newspaper, "the proposal would increase costs because private hospitals are more expensive. The increased cost could lead to further rationing of care." Studies of private care have repeatedly shown that veterans forced to seek care in the private market might not get the same level of care they receive at VA facilities.

Veterans' groups have concluded that McCain has voted at least 28 times against veterans' benefits since arriving in the Senate in 1987. Those votes tried or succeeding in to blocking important benefits for America’s veterans.

In 1991, after the close of the Persian Gulf War, John McCain voted against providing automatic annual cost-of-living adjustments for certain veterans’ benefits. Four years later, McCain supported an appropriations bill that underfunded the Departments of Veterans Affairs and other federal agencies by $8.9 billion. The following year, McCain voted against an amendment to increase spending on veterans programs by $13 billion.

Between 1999 and 2001, McCain stood against appropriations bills that provided regular annual increases in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs. And in 2003, after the US had been at war in Afghanistan for more than a year, McCain stood up again to providing additional funding for the VA. This was his maverick move.

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