https://www.youtube.com/watch?Source=GovD&v=w4yj6dmZPsw
http://www.youtu.be/PlTcYr91tj4
Rep Jackie Walorski: “The words Veteran and backlog should never be in the same sentence.”
I've sent many emails asking folks to raise their voices in outrage over the disgraceful backlog of claims at the VA. What is most outrageous are the bonuses handed out at the VA when the average wait times for claims processing is at 333 days!!! Rep Jeff Miller of Florida, Chairman of the Veterans Committee, has held hearings on the shenanigans at the VA and the disgraceful rewarding of poor performance with outrageous bonuses. The following article highlights Chairman Miller's efforts and his attempt at exposing the growing problem of rewarding failure at the VA:
From reports I've seen and emailed out to all of you, these two really take the cake:
Diana Rubens, VA executive in charge of the 60 offices that process disability compensation claims, she received almost $60,000 in Bonuses with a seven-fold increase in backlogged claims!!! Or how about this one: Glenn Haggstrom, as VA construction chief received almost $55,000 in bonuses (performance bonus mind you!) even though there have been year long delays on projects totaling 1.5 billion in overruns! Talk about rewarding bad behavior?!!!
My appreciation to Chairman Miller, Speaker Boehner, Rep Jackie Walorski and most of all, I thank Concerned Veterans for America for taking on this effort for accountability at the VA. http://www.vaaccountability.org/. Please visit their website, sign up and please forward to all your lists. They are doing remarkable work for our Veterans!
Below are the bills in the House and the Senate that would enable VA Secretary Shinseki to fire Senior level management whose disgraceful job performance continues to lead to outrageous backlogs and so much suffering among our Veterans. They served this country and they deserve their benefits, treatment and care as was promised to them and they certainly should not have to wait 333 days for their claims to be processed. This is an outrage and this is no way a nation should allow it's brave defenders to be treated.
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr4031
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s2013
We really need your help on these bills. Note that on the House bill, there are currently 47 Republicans signed on, and only 2 Democrats! On the Senate side, the bill, sponsored by Marco Rubio, has just 3 Republican signers.
You all helped so much on the Doolittle Tokyo Raiders bill to receive the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, and I am hoping you will do the same on these bills to help make the VA more accountable! We all know if we performed as poorly on our jobs as this VA, we would be fired! Veterans are dying waiting for care and treatment and we as grateful Americans can pick up our phones and help put a stop to this shabby treatment of the men and women who have risked everything to keep us safe.
Please click on the bills above. They list all the signers and if your Congressmen and Senators are not listed, please pick up your phone this week and ask them to please support our Veterans and sign these bills! Employees at the VA should not be receiving bonuses while Veterans are dying waiting for their claims to be processed!
Our Veterans Fought for us and now it is time for all of us to fight for them! 4 phone calls from each of us can make a world of difference for all of them!
Thank You For Your Help!
Beverly Perlson
The Band of Mothers
http://www.thebandofmothers.com/
http://www.derrickmiller.org/
Ronald Reagan spoke these words about POW Jeremiah Denton, who passed away on Friday. Jeremiah Denton endured 8 years of immense torture as he was held prisoner during the Vietnam War. I am in awe of the bravery of this great American Hero who truly loved America and endured much pain and horrendous conditions as a prisoner of war. I can only imagine the pain in his Warrior heart when Jane Fonda showed up in Hanoi in 1972, sat on an anti-aircraft battery and held court with the Vietnamese, calling our military “war criminals”. This reckless traitor hurt so many Americans who risked their lives to give her the freedom to be an ungrateful idiot! I have no doubt this Great American Hero is in Soldier Heaven now and well let's just say, I wouldn't want to be Jane Fonda. She's up there in age and her day of reckoning is coming soon.
Below are some links about this true American Hero:
I hope you will read this story about the very brave POW, Rear Admiral and former Senator from Alabama, Jeremiah Denton, whom the Democrats refused to allow on the California Assembly floor to celebrate the 4th of July back in 2004. Gov Swarzenegger offered his meeting room and the story goes the room was overflowing with people and only one elected Democrat attended. What a disgusting and disgraceful bunch these Democrats were back in 2004 and in my opinion, this ungrateful, unpatriotic attitude among Democrats toward America and those who risk their lives to defend her is far worse now!
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/denton.asp
As we head into the November elections, it is my hope that all Conservatives get out and vote this time and send the Democrats packing in droves. We have brave men and women in the military on a battlefield far from home right now who are counting on Conservatives to honor the freedom they risk their lives to provide and protect. They are counting on all of us to exercise our precious right to vote and I believe they are hoping we vote out all those who undermine brave men and women who risk their lives to always be allowed to mouth the words GOD BLESS AMERICA!
I leave you with the poem read by Rear Admiral Jeremiah Denton, on that 4th of July, back in 2004, through eyes clouded in tears:
It is the Soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us freedom of the press,
It is the Soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer,
Who has given us freedom to demonstrate.
It is the Soldier, who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped beneath the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
Amen. GOD BLESS AMERICA!
And May God Forever Bless The Men and Women of the United States Military! As Ronald Reagan said, “We Don't Have To Turn To Our History Books for Heroes, They Are All Around Us”
Beverly Perlson
The Band of Mothers
http://www.thebandofmothers.com/
http://www.derrickmiller.org/
5.56mm