LTE: Letter addressed only parts of veterans bill
St. Cloud Times,
Jun 8 -
The letter published June 1 “Bachmann, Coleman should be voted out” only told about a small portion of things included in this veterans bill.
For starters, the bill was named one thing and spent most of its money on totally unrelated items. According to MSNBC and The Seattle Times, the bill included many things other than war funding and education benefits for war veterans.
The letter did not mention the $50 billion for the education benefits would be paid for by a tax surcharge on people making more than $500,000 or couples with incomes more than $1 million. That sounds like a great idea, but it has been tried before in the 1990s and we ended up with stock options and a bonus for corporate executives.
The bill also included 13 more weeks of unemployment benefits on top of benefits already allowed by law, money for local police grants, road repairs, the space shuttle, The National Institutes of Health research and $1.9 billion in international food aid and disaster relief. All can be considered worthy causes and should be voted on in their own bills or bills for those types of items.
Rep. Michele Bachmann voted present on the bill in the House, which also included the removal of $163 billion from military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and required withdrawal of troops beginning 30 days after the bill becomes law. Complete withdrawal was in 18 months. The House bill was also divided into three parts by the leadership to allow anti-war Democrats to vote against war funding, but still vote for the add-ons.
This could also supply challengers with a campaign item to use against the incumbent from either party. ... We all need to educate ourselves on what Congress is putting into the bills before we can judge if our elected representatives are voting in our and the country’s best interest, not just their own or their party’s interests!
