Fellow Conservative,
Just when you think the Obama administration can’t stoop any lower, it does.
By now, we all know about the problems at the VA. Hillary Clinton has called the corruption at the Department of Veterans Affairs a phony scandal and “not as widespread” as Republicans claim.
Earlier this month, a veteran went into his Long Island hospital begging for mental health treatment. After trying for months to see a doctor, Peter A. Kaisen figured he would try one last time. The VA employees at the hospital told him there was no room for him – even though there was – and told him to get lost.
This man walked out to his car, put a gun to his head, and killed himself.
Veteran Tom Young called the VA’s suicide hotline earlier this year, desperate to talk to someone. No one answered the phone.
So, he laid down on the train tracks and killed himself. When the VA finally got around to calling him back, his cell phone was in a police evidence locker…
We now know from the Associated Press that 1/3 of all calls to the VA’s suicide hotline don’t even get answered. There is no telling how many other tragic stories there are out there…
This new AP report details that the reason behind the VA’s failures isn’t a lack of funding, but deliberately attributed to negligence and laziness.
Rep. David Young (R-IA) has tried to address this with his No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act. Even though this bill has literally unanimous support in Congress, they still left Washington DC for the weekend without putting it on Obama’s desk…
They simply don’t care…
But it goes far beyond just the suicide hotline. We learned horrifying new information over the past couple of days about the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Chicago.
Not only is the facility overrun with cockroaches and mold, but it was just discovered that veterans who pass away in the hospital are being left in the morgue to decompose.
These are men who fought for this country, many of whom returned with life-changing wounds.
Now, after all of their sacrifices, the Department of Veterans Affairs cannot even be bothered to bury them when they pass away.
The VA’s side of the story? They admit that hospital staff have ‘improperly handled cadavers.’
The truth? Deceased Veterans’ bodies were left in the morgue for over 45 days before the employees bothered to proceed with a burial.
One ignored Veteran’s body had been forgotten for so long, his body had actually liquefied.
I don’t tell you this to gross you out… I am telling you this to make you angry at how our vets are being treated.
Our country’s Veterans made tremendous sacrifices for us. For them to be treated like this is absolutely atrocious.
It has been years since the scandals at the VA first broke and not one high-ranking official has been punished or terminated.
Meanwhile, you have bills like the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act or the Respectful Interment for Passing Veterans Act that have feel-good titles but don’t ever seem to go anywhere even though they have unanimous support.
Enough is enough!
Congress left DC to go spend the weekend at home with their families. They could have passed the many VA reform bills that are waiting for a vote, but they chose not to.
At some point, they were forced to make a choice between helping our veterans and going home for the weekend. They chose the latter. There is no excuse for this.
There is no excuse for leaving work early when there is legislation waiting for approval that would prevent Veterans from committing suicide or ensure that they receive a proper burial.
They think they can get away with this. They think they can put VA reform on the back burner and it won’t cost them a single vote. It is up to you to prove them wrong…
Our Veterans answered the call to defend us. It is time for you to answer the call to defend them!
Really getting tired of hearing about these tragic stories,
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
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