VCS In the News: Pekin Times Editorial | Veterans for Common Sense

VCS’s 2007 lawsuit for veterans was cited in this May 29, 2014 Pekin Times editorial, “Veterans need real support from Congress“:

In July of 2007 – during Bush’s administration, when Jim Nicholson was Veteran Affairs Secretary — Veterans United for Truth and Veterans for Common Sense (VCS) filed suit against the Department of Veterans Affairs, citing “decades of underfunding” as one reason the “VA remains mired in crisis.”

A federal court in 2012 acknowledged chronic delays and denials of treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other injuries by the VA, but nevertheless decided not to try the case. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, ruling that “Congress and the President are in a far better position” to address such issues, and in 2013 the Supreme Court also agreed, declining to hear the case.

The VCS reacted to that decision by calling on Congress to “make sure VA has the funding, staffing, laws, regulations, training and oversight urgently needed so no more veterans die while waiting.”

We’re all still waiting.

The cost of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan together could top $4 trillion, according to Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies, but “lawmakers today are for some reason reticent about using the same credit card that funded the wars to adequately fund veterans’ health-care costs,” Goodman said.

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday said, “We are going to need more funding if we’re going to do justice and provide the high-quality care that veterans deserve.”

 

Read the full article here.

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