from Senator Sanders

[Chris Santee]

Committee to Hold Hearing on Veterans Health Care
WASHINGTON, May 15 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs announced today that the committee will hold a hearing on Thursday May 15 titled “The State of VA Health Care.”


Sanders Statement on VA Health Care
BURLINGTON, Vt., May 16 – U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs chairman, issued the following statement today on the resignation of Dr. Robert Petzel one day after the committee held a hearing on VA health care:

“Yesterday, we heard from every major veterans organization that the quality of health care at the VA is extremely good. I thank Dr. Petzel for helping to make that happen and for his years of service to veterans. Unfortunately, we also heard that there are serious problems regarding waiting times for access to VA health care, and that issue must be addressed immediately
 

 

[rod anode]

and this is government run health care ....just wait for it all to take effect.

[nhibbard]

Well there were obviously a few people who beg to differ on the quality of the care they received. But in thinking about that, I guess you can't give an opinion of something you didn't receive. And those organizations that they asked probably don't have the opinions of those who had difficult times. I know I don't fill out surveys every time one is sent to me.

[Chris Santee]

BURLINGTON, Vt., May 23 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee chairman,  issued the following statement:

“On this Memorial Day weekend, I want to thank all veterans who have put their lives on the line to defend our country and especially the families of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. On this solemn occasion, Congress must reaffirm its commitment to make sure that every veteran in this country and their families get the health care and other benefits that they have earned and deserve.

“During the past several years, we have made significant progress. We have expanded education and employment opportunities, reduced homelessness, improved the processing of claims for disability benefits and given new support for the caregivers of disabled veterans. In the coming year, I look forward to working with veterans all across the country and their representatives here in Washington as we redouble our commitment to the men and women who have given so much for our nation.”

[Chris Santee]

http://watchdog.org/146352/bernie-sanders-va-response/?roi=echo3-20639001181-20012950-b63012c0799e07cf37e06883765eca95

[Thor]

House Republicans decided to take the VA administration officials to task, in the same way a business owner might, if one of his workers had been implicated in such a scandal that required the firing of incompetent leadership.  Representatives in the House, including numerous Democrats, resoundingly approved the prudent order.

And yet, Democrats in the Senate have crushed the bill which would hold those at fault accountable.  Marco Rubio remarked that we “have an opportunity right now to take up the bill that the House just passed with an overwhelming majority, enact it into law by unanimous consent, and send it to the president so he can sign it.”

Vermont’s Bernie Sanders (who is technically an independent, but whose voting record aligns with Senate Democrats) rebutted, after having voted against accountability for these deaths perpetrated by the VA administration, saying that “some of us are old fashioned enough to know that maybe folks in the Senate might want to know what’s in the bill before we’ve voted on it.”

This comment should go down in history among the greatest hypocrisies ever uttered.  Bernie Sanders voted for Obamacare in 2010, and he, like the Democrats who also voted for it, did not know what was in the unreadable bill, because he did not, nor could he have, read that monstrosity before it was visited upon us in the form of law.  “We have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it,” as another Democrat champion of Obamacare famously trumpeted.  And yet Bernie Sanders voted for it anyway. But when it comes to something as simple as removing the obviously incompetent administrators of the VA?  Suddenly, knowledge of the bill’s content is important.

For the record, H.R. 4031 is three pages, and it can be read it in less than two minutes.  I would expect Senate Democrats could have done that, if they had the interest.

Conservatives have been accused of politicizing this scandal to paint the Obama administration in a negative light.  But in reality, the issue is political by nature, if only because government officials have chosen to provide healthcare for some and not for others.  What we have witnessed is nothing more than a selective process to delineate who deserves healthcare at the cost of taxpayers, and who does not.

Given that those deemed unworthy of care by these government officials died, a “death panel” analogy is hardly out of line.

But there is a larger question raised by Senate Democrats’ refusal to demand accountability in this instance.  Just who do they care about?

They can’t muster the gumption to hold VA officials accountable for the blood that is clearly on their hands?  Is that not a moral imperative on par with ensuring that a mother on welfare, whose lifestyle Americans already subsidize, has assured access to healthcare and even abortions should she require them?  Why would Senate Democrats champion this woman to the extent that they would vote for a bill that they haven’t read, but have no such zeal when seeking justice for the deaths of our military veterans who died as a result of a lack of care?

Did Senate Democrats simply not have the interest or ability to read the bill?  Not likely.  No, Bernie Sanders, after having voted down H.R. 4031, callously remarked “People die every day.”  The VA, he posits, “works reasonably well for veterans.” And if it works “reasonably well,” why sternly address it?

Of course, those families whose loved ones died as a result of the VA’s inefficiency would probably beg to differ.  In fact, they’re angry.  And we Americans are angry with them.

What we can take away from this is that the targets of the government benevolence, at least in Senate Democrats’ eyes, are becoming more defined.  Unlike the voting bloc of millions of government dependents that Democrats champion with fierce rhetoric, our brave veterans are actually entitled to healthcare benefits that they have earned, and they and their families deserve justice for being wrongfully denied those benefits.

Clearly, our veterans are not among those the Senate Democrats seek to protect.  And what’s more, they are an obvious impediment to the betterment of our veterans’ lives.

[Chris Santee]

VTGOP COMMENTS ON VETERANS ADMINISTRATION SCANDAL

Vermonters Deserve an Explanation from U.S. Senator Sanders

Montpelier, Vt. --  Vermont GOP Chairman David Sunderland issued the following statement calling on Senate Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) to come clean about what he knew about the VA scandal:

"The revelation that thousands of veterans were denied the care they earned in the service of this country while languishing on secret wait lists is a national disgrace. As it turns out, this corruption was systemic throughout the VA system and designed for sole purpose of handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses and making it appear as if the Obama Administration was fulfilling its pledge to reduce the backlog.

"But as Chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee, charged with oversight of this government agency, Senator Bernie Sanders bears responsibility. Just as the American people are right to demand answers from the Administration and the leadership at the VA, they deserve to know what Senator Sanders knew, when he knew it, and why he failed to bring this matter to light.

"It was, therefore, reprehensible for Senator Sanders to have abused his Senate privilege to block a bipartisan reform bill that passed the House of Representatives with 390 votes that would have brought much needed accountability to the VA. Senator Sanders owes Vermonters and the American people a full accounting of what he knew and when, he owes our Veterans a vote on the legislation he blocked, and he owes each and every veteran an apology."

[rod anode]

well you have too admit that he got elected on the backs of the poor and vets,that man is one sneaky SOB

[Chris Santee]

Chairman Sanders Lays Out Legislative Action Plan for Veterans
 
BURLINGTON, Vt., June 1 – Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today outlined a comprehensive legislative package to address “reprehensible” behavior by VA officials and to correct underlying problems in access to medical care.

“There must be a culture of honesty and accountability within the VA and people who have lied or manipulated data must be punished. But we also have to get to the root causes of the problems that have been exposed. The simple truth is that with 2 million more veterans coming into the system in recent years there are many facilities within the VA that do not have the doctors, nurses and other personnel that they need to provide quality care in a timely way.”

Sanders said a Thursday hearing of the veterans committee will consider the Restoring Veterans’ Trust Act of 2014. The measure then could be put on a fast track for consideration by the full Senate. It would give the VA authority to immediately remove senior executives based on poor job performance while preventing wholesale political firings. It would provide veterans who can’t get timely appointments with VA doctors the option of going to community health centers, military hospitals or private doctors. It would authorize VA to lease 27 new health facilities in 18 states. It would authorize emergency funding to hire new doctors, nurses and other providers in order to address system-wide health care provider shortages and to take other steps necessary to ensure timely access to care.  To address primary care doctor shortage for the long-term, the bill would authorize the National Health Service Corps to award scholarships to medical school students and to forgive college loans for doctors and nurses who go to work at the VA.

Altogether, the bill would provide education, retirement security and other benefits for millions of veterans and their families. Virtually all of the provisions already have been approved by the Senate committee, many of them by unanimous votes, during previous legislative markup sessions.

Sanders said the need for congressional action was underscored last Wednesday when the VA’s independent Office of Inspector General found that officials had lied about wait times for appointments at the Phoenix VA and other medical facilities. A separate audit delivered to President Barack Obama on Friday disclosed attempts by VA employees at two-thirds of VA hospitals and clinics to cover up delays in providing patient care. 

Other provisions in Sanders’ legislative package would:

• Upgrade VA’s antiquated scheduling systems.

• Require President Obama to establish a commission on VA health care access and recommend, within 90 days, actions to bolster capacity. 

• Extend comprehensive services and benefits to the most severely injured pre-9/11 veterans; standardize the process for sending patients to community health centers, military hospitals or other health care providers; and extend from five to 10 years access to VA health care for all recently-separated veterans.

• Provide help for veterans who suffered significant spinal cord, reproductive and urinary tract injuries and who now want to have children

• Bolster the VA’s ongoing effort to eliminate shrinking but still unacceptable backlogs in processing claims for disability benefits.

• Make certain that all veterans get in-state tuition rates for college costs covered by the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

• Improve the delivery of care and benefits to veterans who experienced sexual trauma while in the military.

• Remove the VA from annual budget battles by adopting so-called “advance appropriations” to protect veterans in case of a government shutdown.

• Restore a 1 percent cut in retirement cost-of-living adjustments that Congress enacted for current military service members.

[Chris Santee]

from November 26, 2012
VA Clinic in Chittenden County       
WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today announced that the Department of Veterans Affairs selected a contractor to build a new $2.6 million community-based outpatient clinic in Burlington, Vt., to serve about 4,000 veterans.   

“As a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, I am proud to announce that we’re making real progress in improving health care for veterans throughout Vermont,” Sanders said. “The new VA facility in Burlington will replace a clinic in Colchester where the need for health care services has outgrown the clinic’s capacity.  The new Burlington clinic will be in addition to new facilities that opened earlier this year in Rutland and Newport.”

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki said the Burlington facility “will ensure that Vermont’s Veterans continue to have the world-class medical care that they’ve earned through their service to our nation.”

Throughout Vermont, the VA now serves some 8,600 veterans at clinics in Colchester, Brattleboro, Rutland, Bennington and Newport. The clinics provide primary care, specialty treatment and mental health services. They operate as satellites of the VA medical center in White River Junction, Vt.

The Colchester clinic, the busiest in the state, will be replaced by a new facility almost twice as large. The new clinic will be housed in an old cotton mill located at 128 Lakeside Ave. in Burlington. The construction contract with Fortieth Burlington LLC calls for facility that will occupy more than 16,000 square feet in the refurbished building. The construction project will create an estimated 75 jobs.  Once the facility is completed in early 2013, the VA will pay an annual rent of approximately $350,000.

The VA last year spent $329 million providing health care, benefits and services to Vermont’s 52,000 Veterans. 

The VA operates one of the nation’s largest integrated health care systems.  With a health care budget of about $50 billion, VA expects to provide care to 6.1 million patients supporting 920,000 hospitalizations and nearly 80 million outpatient visits this year.  VA’s health care network includes 152 major medical centers and more than 800 community-based outpatient clinics.