U.S. Sen. Paul Coverdell and the United States Congress are mounting an assault on the medical benefits of America’s veterans. The assault began in 1993 when Coverdell was one of only 27 Senators to vote for a cut in spending on new VA inpatient facilities. If this spending cut had passed, the $27 million clinical addition to the VA medical facility in Decatur might never have been built. The assault continued in 1996 when Coverdell joined 52 other Senators in voting to freeze veterans’ benefits for five years in order to pay for $122 billion tax cut. Because of inflation and rising health care costs, this freeze is forcing the VA to cut a wide range of medical benefits. This means veterans across Georgia are not getting the treatment, medication and equipment they need. Consider the case of Joseph Shelton of Augusta, a Korean War veteran and purple heart recipient. Mr. Shelton, who is designated by the VA as 65 percent disabled from injuries sustained in combat, has been given a prescription and sent home rather than being admitted to the hospital because the VA does not have the money to provide him with the individual inpatient care he needs. This year, the assault on veterans’ medical care grew more ambitious, when Coverdell and 56 of his colleagues voted to pass the 1999 Senate Budget Resolution. This Budget Resolution eliminated medical care for veterans with smoking related illnesses. It took about $17 billion Out of veterans’ health care and put it into transportation programs. To justify such cuts, Congress declared that veterans who smoked while on active duty had engaged in “willful misconduct.” That is the same category the Department of Veterans Affairs uses to deny benefits to alcoholics and drug abusers. This provision ignores the fact that smoking was encouraged within the military and that cigarettes were provided free of charge to soldiers for decades. There are those in Washington who are on the right side of this issue, but right now they are losing the close votes. On June 25 of this year, Sen. Tom Harkin offered an amendment to the Defense Authorization Bill that would have returned $329 million to VA health care programs. Not surprisingly, Coverdell was one of the 55 Senators who voted to defeat this measure. On July 8, Sen. Patty Murray offered a point of order that would have restored $17 billion to medical care for veterans with smoking related-illnesses. Murray’s point of order had bipartisan support. War hero John McCain voted for it. Georgia’s Max Clelland, who lost two legs and an arm in Vietnam, voted for it. But Coverdell voted against it, and the point of order was defeated by a single vote, 50-48. I have been meeting with veterans from across the State, and they are justifiably angry. Rev. Robert Oliver, Commander of the Augusta chapter of the Disabled American Veterans, informed me that “the veterans have no problem with cutting taxes or repairing the potholes in our roads, but veterans’ medical programs have been unfairly targeted.” I agree with him. Although it is important to provide middle class tax relief, and improve Georgia’s roads and rail lines, it is shameful to foot the bill by breaking promises to Georgia’s veterans. The practice of reducing our veterans’ programs for political reasons is simply not acceptable. This is a matter of principle. It is about keeping promises to those who deserve this nation’s greatest admiration and respect I am running for the United States Senate to do what is right for the people of Georgia. As your Senator, I will fight to ensure that the government honors its commitments, and especially its commitments to veterans. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to get a square deal afterward.” Paul Coverdell seems to have forgotten this enduring lesson. I have not. |
