Republican-Led Congress To Cut Money For War-Related Brain Injuries

[JABBS]

To read the whole story, click here.

Congress appears ready to slash funding for the research and treatment of brain injuries caused by bomb blasts, an injury that military scientists describe as a signature wound of the Iraq war.

House and Senate versions of the 2007 Defense appropriation bill contain $7 million for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center — half of what the center received last fiscal year. (The center had requested $19 million.) The House has already passed its legislation, and the Senate is expected to do so soon.

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Jim Mueller, the VFW’s commander in chief, told Army Times that the proposal "clearly indicates that the Congress is out of touch with the realities and consequences of war.”

“You either take care of the troops or you do not,” said Mueller, a Vietnam War veteran.

[opihimoimoi]

1. Pathetically SAD...How the Fuck can those Pubs SLEEP?

It confirms their Brain Damage...This refusal to help clearly shows their insensitivity.

[JABBS]

2. the official excuse

is that they want to cut the deficit. yeah, right.

[opihimoimoi]

3. The Generals get their wish list, the Mil Ind gets Profits, and the PEEPS

SUFFER....

Somethin wrong with the picture?? Vote Blue

[trof]

4. THANKS FOR THE AMMO!

I'm sending this to editors:

Exactly WHO supports our troops?
Especially our troops wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Evidently not our Republican controlled congress.

Here's why:
1. According to military scientists and medical experts, "traumatic brain injury is THE signature injury of the war on terror".
Unlike in past wars, body armor (when our troops can even get decent body armor) helps protect the torso. The steel-pot helmet can protect the head to some degree, but not when it's blown off by a roadside bomb. By far, the most common trauma is to the head, whether a hard lick that causes concussion, or an open wound to the skull.

2. The Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center was set up just for the purpose of treating this most common and debilitating injury. Scientists at the center develop ways to diagnose and treat servicemembers who suffer brain damage. The work is done at seven military and Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, including the center's headquarters at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, and one civilian treatment site.

3. In HR 5631, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2007, our Republican controlled House of Representatives voted to cut the funding for the center in half. That's right. HALF.
In 2001, the center received 6.5 million dollars.
In 2005 that had more than doubled to 14 million dollars.
For 2007, congress cut it back to almost 2001 levels, 7 million dollars.
Almost the same amount we spent before we even invaded Iraq and had troops in actual combat.

A spokesman for the appropriations committee (they're the ones who recommend to congress how much is spent on what) said "Honestly, they would have loved to have funded it, but there were just so many priorities. They didn't have any flexibility in such a tight fiscal year."

Yeah, right. But keep those tax cuts for the rich families coming. Keep those oil company profits up.
Sorry, soldier.

This is the sickest, most hypocritical, vicious circle I think I've ever seen. We are creating more and more head wounds by sending our troops into harm's way, while cutting the very funds to treat the injuries they receive.

By the way, on June 20 Jo Bonner voted for the bill. That's just one reason I'm voting for Vivian Beckerle for congress this year. Besides being a very smart lady, she is a retired Army Reserve Major. I'll bet she knows how to treat our troops right.

Mxxxxx Lxxxxxxx
Fxxxx, AL