Roskam's VA fix a political Band-aid

The constituent email from my Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-6) regarding problems at the VA proposes a Band-Aid to fix a gaping wound there as wide as the Grand Canyon. Roskam touts his House Republican bill H.R. 4031, which, according to Roskam. "gives VA leaders every possible tool to improve management and hold their team responsible for delivering high quality care." Every possible tool? Don't make me laugh. H.R. 4031 simply gives the V...A Secretary the power to "remove any individual from the Senior Executive Service if the Secretary determines the performance of the individual warrants such removal." That's it! A problem with the VA? Just fire a few civil service professionals and the problem is solved. Never mind that the law, if passed by the Senate and signed by the president, may violate the due process rights of VA employees; needlessly inject partisan politics into an otherwise nonpartisan workforce; and risk having the VA secretary overreact and fire a few folks so he can claim he's doing something to solve an incredibly complex problem.

Then there's the 1,800 pound elephant lumbering around the VA issue. For the past seven years Congressman Roskam has supported our senseless and failed wars that have poured hundreds of thousands of needless patients into the VA system. If that isn't bad enough, House GOP Chief Deputy Whip Roskam adheres slavishly to the Republican Tea Party agenda which views government as unnecessary to solve real problems; but instead must simply keep cutting taxes for the already well off and cut, cut, cut government services to pay for those tax cuts. This double whammy of increasing the VA's caseload while strangling its resources is deplorable. Roskam's bill is a worthless political stunt.

At the end of his email on the VA, Roskam offers this bit of help: "House Republicans are encouraging veterans impacted by VA mismanagement to speak out at gop.gov/yourstory so we can more fully understand the scope of this problem and fix it." That's an easy one. Every veteran should log on and send the Congressman these four words: "Show us the money!" And they may add these four as well: "No more wars, Congressman!"