I am outraged.
Understand that I'm now an unaffiliated voter - I have been for a couple of years now - but a former Democrat of 29 years, who reaffiliated to volunteer and vote for Howard Dean in the 2004 primary. I then promptly unaffiliated again because of GARBAGE like this in the Democratic Party.
There are not one but TWO bills of great value and concern to U.S. military veterans returning from combat and service in the war on terrorism that have passed through committee and are now pending before the Connecticut Legislature, which is a Democratic Super-Majority.
CT Senate Bill 1245 calls for a task force, a conference on the impact on soldiers of depleted uranium, a health study, and a permanent health registry which will track veterans. This is a replication of the actions taken by the government to investigate the health effects of Agent Orange.
CT House Bill 6008 calls for an independent test for exposure to depleted uranium for every returning Connecticut National Guardsman.
These two bills have been waiting to be brought to the floor for a vote by the Connecticut House since May 19. If these bills are not brought to the floor and voted on by state representatives, they will be killed.
The Speaker of the House, James Amann (Democrat), and the Selection Committee are going to kill these bills by not bringing them to the floor of the Legislature for a vote. It is the Speaker and the Selection Committee that choose which legislation is voted on by the entire House and when they are voted on.
I'm not a politician but this is how I understand it works:
All bills that successfully move out of committee are placed in a pile in the Speaker's office. The Speaker and the Selection Committee (who are anonymous) choose which bills are pulled from this pile and are then brought to the floor of the House for a vote. Added to the pile, are all the bills that have been passed by the Senate. Just because a bill is passed by the Senate, it doesn't mean that bill will always come to the floor of the House for a vote. I've heard it's happened (and not just once) that Speaker Amann refused to bring a bill to the floor because he didn't like the legislator(s) who submitted the bill.
And I've also heard that this is what is happening NOW to these two bills.
This is an OUTRAGE. The Democrats running Connecticut are playing with the lives of our soldiers. This is a violation of our responsibility to support our troops. How can we, as Democrats, shake our finger at the Republicans in charge of the government in Washington who are shrinking the Veterans Affairs budget, closing VA hospitals and military bases across the country, and ignoring the needs of the very soldiers who've defined our lives and our system of government, when we Democrats are turning our backs on them in our home states.
Their families need our support. Our veterans need our assistance so that they can return to lives as productive citizens and strong members of our community. It's shameful that there are politicians not only in DC but in Hartford who are willing to play politics with the lives of people who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the very system that is being used against them now.
This is betrayal.
The irony of this situation is that the state of Louisiana COPIED CT House Bill 6008 and passed it on May 19, where it now sits on the governor's desk to be signed into law.
There is NO reason for Connecticut Democrats to remain silent about these bills. You can affect a change; you can make these bills LAW.
If you are registered to vote in Connecticut, call James Amann today and say this:
"I demand that you allow the Connecticut Legislature to vote on House Bill 6008 and Senate Bill 1245."
Speaker Amann's phone number is 860-240-8500.