As I had promised Susan from 29 after reading her diary, New Front in the War on Vets, I contacted my senator, Patty Murray, who chairs the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, about the proposed funding mechanism for a bill to provide healthcare to Veterans and their families who were poisoned by tainted water at Camp Lejeune.
Senator Murray's response below the fold.
Dear Mr. [Fed up Fed]:
Thank you for contacting me regarding S. 277, the Caring for Camp Lejeune Veterans Act of 2011. I appreciate knowing your views on this matter.
S. 277 was introduced by Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. The bill would provide care to veterans and families that were affected by contaminated drinking water while stationed at Camp Lejeune. The bill cleared the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee on June 29, 2011, and now awaits consideration by the full Senate. As it goes through the next several steps I will continue to monitor it closely.
In order to pay for the new services provided to these veterans and their family members, Ranking Member Burr is working with the Department of Defense (DoD) to pay for the care they will receive. Currently, Senator Burr's bill looks to pay for the care of these families by streamlining the commissary system within DoD. Because of the limited ability for the Department of Veterans Affairs to pay for the care of impacted family members, DoD will be required to find the funding to cover the costs. I am very concerned about jeopardizing care for disabled veterans when DoD should cover this care. I appreciate hearing your concerns about the current manner in which the bill intends to pay for the benefits and care of impacted families. I will keep your thoughts in mind as the full Senate considers this legislation.
As the daughter of a disabled WWII veteran and a former intern at the Seattle VA, veterans' issues are of a personal importance to me. If you would like to know more about my work on the Committee, please feel free to visit our Website at www.veterans.senate.gov. Through our Website you may subscribe to our Committee newsletter, which will provide periodic updates on our work for veterans. Also, please know that each Committee hearing is streamed live online and available for viewing anytime following completion of the hearing. Again, thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with me. Keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Patty Murray
United States Senator
I'm a bit ambivalent about this response, to tell the truth. It's not that I'm in disagreement with Senator Murray's concern. The VA is a perennial target of partisan politics, and their budget suffers from Death of a Thousand Cuts pretty much every year. Tying the funding of this initiative to the DoD offers some assurance that these people will get the healthcare they need, and that's a good thing. But the commissary subsidy offers a great deal of assistance to struggling military families, and so I'm wary of any "streamlining" offered up by a Republican politician.
All that said, I trust Patty Murray. She's been a strong advocate for Veterans' issues in my hometown, and I've got to give her the benefit of the doubt when she says that she'll keep a close eye on this bill going forward. I guess we'll all have to do the same.