Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy
On Senate Debate Of Flag Desecration Amendment
Veterans Needs
June 27, 2006

This morning we awoke to read the latest example of this Administration’s incompetence.  Because of bureaucratic bungling, widows of those who have served this nation and sacrificed for all of us have been denied the survivors’ benefits to which they should be entitled.  A leader of the Gold Star Wives of America, a group of 10,000 military widows, was quoted as saying: “It is shameful that the government and Congress do not deliver the survivor benefits equally to all our widows with the same compassion and precision the military presents the folded flag at the grave.”  Edie Smith is right and we should be ashamed. 

This news follows other recent public reports that post-traumatic stress disorders among our veterans are on the rise.  Instead of seeking to turn the flag into a partisan political weapon and the Constitution into a billboard for political slogans, for partisan gain, we should be working to fulfill the pressing needs of our veterans and their families.  I wish the Senate would use its time to discuss and solve the real problems that real Americans are facing right now, instead of trying to stir public passions for political ends.  

It was noted today in one of the newspapers that the Senate is expected to spend four days debating this amendment – one for each incident of flag burning that purportedly occurred this year.  I respectfully suggest that in the less than 10 weeks left to us in session this year, the Senate’s resources would be better spent working to improve veterans’ health care  services, survivors’ benefits and protecting veterans’ and Americans’ privacy.  We have just witnessed the largest theft of private information from the Government ever, the loss of information on more than 26.5 million American veterans, including more than 2 million who are in active service, nearly 80 percent of our active-duty force and a large percentage of our National Guard and the Reserve. 

Let me quote what a spokeswoman for the American Legion said recently:   “Our armed forces personnel have enough on their plates with fighting the global war on terror, let alone having to worry about identity theft while deployed overseas.”  A spokesman for the VFW said: “This confirms the VFW's worst fear from day one - that the loss of data encompasses every single person who did wear the uniform and does wear the uniform today.”

Because of the recklessness of the Bush-Cheney Administration’s Department of Veterans Affairs, our veterans and our active-duty service members are now worried whether their personal information is being sold on the black market or available to foreign intelligence services or terrorists.  That adds up to a heckuva bad job for America’s veterans and our men and women in uniform. 

Three weeks after the theft, it was finally disclosed.  Three weeks after that, the Administration finally announced that it would do what it should have done from day one by making credit reporting available to those affected.  And the Administration is still fighting paying for its mistakes.  It is resisting the efforts by Senators Byrd and Murray to provide the additional $160 million that is needed to pay for credit monitoring and proposing to take the money from veterans’ health care or other programs.  That is wrong.

Such incompetence at the Bush-Cheney Department of Veteran’s Affairs is worse than anything I have seen in six presidential administrations.  At some point, this Administration has got to stop appointing and hiring cronies, and at some point they might really take responsibility and we might have some real accountability for their incompetence. 

Rather than work on our privacy and identity theft legislation, rather than proceed on bill protecting veterans, such as Senator Akaka’s or Senator Kerry’s, we are being directed to another divisive debate on a proposed constitutional amendment.  The White House calls the tune, and this Republican-led Congress is quick to dance to it.  This is a White House that does not even list “veterans” as an issue on its website.  

The nation’s veterans – who have been willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country – deserve better.  In his second inaugural, while the nation was fighting the Civil War, President Lincoln concluded with words that became the motto of the Veterans Administration and remains on metal plaques around the Vermont Avenue doors of the VA office here in Washington:  “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.”  In this fundamental mission, this Administration has lost its way.  

What the Bush Administration’s budget says is that honoring veterans is not a priority, especially when it comes to medical care. The President’s budget requests consistently fall short of the levels needed to provide necessary services and care. Secretary Nicholson had to admit a billion dollar shortfall last year after first issuing inaccurate and unfounded denials of his mismanagement. 

And when Democratic Senators, like Senators Murray, Akaka, or Nelson, offer amendments to fund veterans programs, Republicans refuse to support those amendments to bring funding up to the levels recommended by the Independent Budget and just plain common sense. 

We heard in March 2004 from the Chairman of the Citizen’s Flag Alliance, Major General Patrick Brady, that “we have never fully met the needs of our veterans.”  This echoed General Brady’s frank admission following our April 1999 hearing that “the most pressing issues facing our veterans” were not flag burnings, but rather “broken promises, especially health care.”  Sadly, it appears playing politics with veteran’s emotions rather than sustaining their health care is nothing new.  Tragically, it continues. 

The most recent supplemental spending bill excluded almost $400 million in additional spending for the veterans’ health care.  Again, the Administration said it did not need the additional funding—but our veterans need it. 

The Bush budget for veterans simply does not account for the increase in demand for VA services due to the Iraq war.  With nearly 20 percent of those returning from Iraq reporting mental health problems and 35 percent of Iraq war veterans needing health care services, we are not providing the resources that we should.  Consider the cost of inflation and the increased costs for medicine and services and you can understand why the American Legion projects that more than $1 billion is needed in further funding just to meet annual payroll and medical inflation costs. 

Most disturbing is the move to make veterans contribute a larger share to provide their own health care.  This Administration continues its efforts to impose onerous fees and co-payments on our nations’ veterans.  This parallels the demands on families to buy armor, helmets and other supplies for their family members serving in our armed forces.  The Bush Administration plans to increase by almost $800 million this year the fees and collections from third parties for veterans’ health care.  They plan on imposing an annual enrollment fee and doubling prescription drug co-payments for certain veterans.  Veterans are being forced to subsidize their government health care.  So much for the words on the veterans building in Washington.

We seem headed back to the time after World War I when veterans had to come to Washington and lived in tent cities to demand that the Government honor the words of President Lincoln and care for them and those others had left behind. 

Instead of debating polarizing issues that we have talked about in election years, we should be acting to provide real resources for our men and women who served this country with honor and sacrifice. 

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