Earlier this week ‘The Daily Show’ host Jon Stewart took on Veteran’s Affairs, and the issues soldiers are currently having with the organization in getting timely medical care. It’s an issue that’s been happening since President Bush’s term, and one that still plagues those looking for health care.
In the segment Stewart shows clips with quotes from Republican Senators, John Thune, Lindsey Graham, and Mitch McConnell blasting the president for the issues. McConnell, for instance, remarked in the clip “He needs to take these stories at least just as seriously as he did the Obamacare website fiasco,” bringing in Obamacare as a second blast to the president in his statement. The only issue: that’s not how the senators feel all the time. Stewart showed a recent Veteran Care bill that found its way onto the Senate floor on February 28th of this year and was voted down by the same Republican senators. That bill would have increased spending and help for Veterans.
Senator McConnell, the same senator who commented on Obama needing to take the veteran’s issues more seriously was one of the main reasons the bill did not pass the senate. Originally just a bill for veterans. He added unrelated “poison pill” legislation to the bill that pertained to Iran, something that might have swayed some votes away.
Currently veterans have to wait an average of 6 months to get health care, something that seems unacceptable to politicians on both sides of the aisle, but one that neither has come up with a suitable solution for.