The PACT ACT
20I’m not interested in discussing politics one way or the other or having a debate. I don’t think we need to do that here. I just think people may not be aware/paying attention to such a basic bill cause we just assume vets should be covered. And SO much has been going on for so long. So just a PSA.
Here is the bill if you disagree with the bill that’s fine we don’t need to fight about it.
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3967
The bill to fund the VA was previously voted 84/14 by the Senate but is now being blocked by the Senate.
Here is what happened. NPR is usually fact based so not picking a media outlet. You can look elsewhere.
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/29/1114417097/veterans-burn-pit-bill-republican-senators
Here is the American legions feelings on what happened
https://www.legion.org/veteranshealthcare/256457/legion-senate-action-pact-act-‘absolutely-unacceptable’
You can find much more impassioned pleas from family members/vets.
All I’m saying is look at the bill, decide if you agree or disagree with it, and if your senator, regardless of party, is not doing what you think they should be doing, let them know.
- 9 comments, 27 replies
- Comment
It is honestly really sad, and I am ashamed to say I live in one of those red states where the senator votes down everything. Sigh…
Voting this coming week is so important
@tinamarie1974 I’ve signed up to be an election worker in November. Pity the low life intimidators who try to mess with ME.
@tinamarie1974 Indiana is pretty red. I’ll probably never see a democratic senator. But I have seen some good senators. This is not an election thing all though some of them may be making it one
The point is this is a broadly supported by-partisan bill that takes care of vets. In congress you can see it and 85% in the Senate. Until they started playing games.
My point is , on at least this issue. Everyone can see it. Everyone can recognize what’s going on. And agree the behavior is unacceptable. Call. Mail lodge a complaint. And tell them to knock it the fuck off.
There shouldn’t be party lines on this but I’m not sure people know it’s happening.
@unksol I completely agree, but in MO we have Hawley. My calls and letters will have zero effect.
@tinamarie1974 and what happens if the rest of your state realises he promised veterans care and then he took it away? And is playing games with their lives? I bet some of them would call even if they aren’t ready to get rid of him.
@unksol I truly hope so. That or the younger gen Z group coming up sees the chwllenges and helps to flip the state
@tinamarie1974 still. Not trying to flip the state. Not trying to change anything out of it’s current state. Again no politics. Just. Maybe we can all agree on one single issue for once and scold them till they listen
@unksol I would b ok with that too
@earlyre I like his take on it but he is polarizing for some people.
This one is so simple. We love and support our troops. The VA needs help. They offered it finally then took it back. Everybody should flood their senators offices telling them to stop bagaining with people’s lives.
My dad has multiple cancers thanks to agent orange exposure. I am disheartened the bill was modified and lost votes this time around. Thank you to those who served, you definitely deserve better!
@mikibell the only modification was the removal of 1 sentence about taxation and Rural Clinics.
absolutely nothing has been added.
Thanks for posting, along with the links to articles. Please read them…That’s all I’m saying…
“If you can’t afford to take care of your veterans, then don’t go to war. These people are bearing the brunt of what war is about. We have a moral obligation to support them.” & “It is about what our priorities are. And in my view, at the very top of our priority list has got to be to protect and defend those people who have protected and defended us, those people who have given much, much more than we can ever repay.” Those are my sentiments exactly. The quotes are from a politician who gets it. I express no political affiliation red, or blue, left or right. Rather I’d like to see 90% of our “elected officials” lined up against a wall and summarily shot for treason.
@detailer what I’m getting at is that some people who you normally disagree with on a regular basis may finally be on the same page with you. They may just not know that are being betrayed like this do to their choice of media outlets/reporting.
So this could be a very good time to point them to non biased reporting/let them see what those senators are up to in a way that may sway their mind of at least call and tell them they are massive dicks
Sorry for that mini rant at the end there. It just makes my blood boil when I see our veterans continue to get the shit end of the stick !!!
Oh…and I’ll supply the ammo.
@unksol
TY.
Update: it passed
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/02/politics/senate-vote-burn-pits/index.html
@chienfou seriously good news
@chienfou @tinamarie1974 it is good news… But the senators who blocked it were clearly trying to play a game and I still find that. Very disturbing
@tinamarie1974 @unksol
Ok… The original post is all about only getting the bill passed. You make a point of not wanting to get into a political debate. Yet here you are trying to start one. Not going to go there.
@chienfou @tinamarie1974 fair point. Was not my intention/I’d delete it but too late. I’m glad it’s passed and for once we got something finally done that should have been done a long time ago in a bipartisan way.
I don’t like when either side plays these sorts of games and its happening alot. My bad.
@tinamarie1974 @unksol
Thanks. I was hoping to put this to rest.
@chienfou @tinamarie1974 @unksol
Well, I didn’t make any promises, and I’m going to call them out - these are the 11 who voted against it again.
@chienfou @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @unksol
Good God. For fucks sake, USA Today can’t even spell Tommy Tuberville’s name correctly, and they can’t even get what fucking state he represents right (hint, its Alabama and his qualifications for senator are embezzling from his fund management company and being a mediocre football coach).
And we wonder why privatizing and starving public education funding has resulted in lots of Americans being utter morans and selfish twits. Sigh.
@Kyeh @mike808 @tinamarie1974 @unksol
Ooops
@chienfou @Kyeh @mike808 @tinamarie1974 ok you guys. I get it. Calling them out was not the point and BOTH my senators were part of the 25 that waffled. So I was a little unhappy with them. Can we focus on the fact that a good thing happened for once?
We can take how our senators behaved and their voting records home where it matters and campaign there if we want.
@chienfou @mike808 @tinamarie1974 @unksol
I hadn’t seen the names of those who held out the second time, when it passed - there was a lot of emphasis on the fact that it passed but not a lot of mention of who still opposed it.
@chienfou @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @unksol
I wasn’t cracking on Alabama or its Senators (even though they earn it). I was pointing out that USA Today is a popular news source and from the author to the editors and reviewers, to fuck up not only a senator’s name but what state they represent is beyond the pale for any organization claiming to be in the business of “journalism” and presenting “news”.
It’s embarrassing and apparently USA Today has no shame in how cheap and low they will go to just post shit and pretend they’re actually good at their profession, with college degrees and certifications to that effect.
@chienfou @Kyeh @mike808 @tinamarie1974
Well… There was no list the first time. There were links.
Here is the final
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/3373
You can click on all actions then in the vote numbers are linked. So don’t need to resort to a media outlet to share that info. You can go straight to the voting record. This is all published and surprisingly well linked. There is no hiding what they are doing on votes. Why is a whole nother thing.
The thing to stick with here. Is it you don’t like what your senator did. Tell them
@chienfou @Kyeh @mike808 @tinamarie1974
That is fair criticism… I bet the person doing it was doing some copy paste and forgot to change the state. And just scrambled the name a little.
You should send a note to USA today just so they can correct it. I’m looking to see if there is one for their editor cause I’ll send one. Regardless you can always see the votes on any bill you care about without the media
accuracy@usatoday.com
@chienfou @mike808 @tinamarie1974 @unksol
Yes, but most people aren’t going to do that.
And while the list was a poorly written mess, probably copy/paste as you said, the individuals are still easily identifiable in it.
@chienfou @Kyeh @mike808 @tinamarie1974 I’m saying if you want to avoid any media basis. It’s right there. All they did was read it/make mistakes/slap some media Around it.
If you care about a bill it’s really easy to see who voted for/against it and the entire history of the bill. If you trust your elected representative to do what they should… That’s great. Literally their job.
And while there are some redicuolous senators in this country. No matter how bad they are you can only try and figure out your state.
@chienfou @Kyeh @tinamarie1974 @unksol
Like I said, I wasn’t cracking on Alabama or how they voted, or that USA Today is the only source of the information. The definitive source will always be house.gov or senate.gov, of course.
It was just embarrassing to see that something so simple and straightforward could be fucked up by what can only be explained as incompetence on the part of USA Today, and that saddens me for America since we know milkiobs of people look to them for … factual, accurate news. Unlike, say, The New York Post or the ironic “Truth Social” platform or OANN.
@chienfou @Kyeh @mike808 @tinamarie1974 lol I get it. I did shoot them an email/you would think it would be hard to miss but people fuck up.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Might be the extra “color” on the original reply not wanting to people to latch on to.
Oh, FFS.
NAYs —11
Crapo (R-ID)
Lankford (R-OK)
Lee (R-UT)
Lummis (R-WY)
Paul (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Romney (R-UT)
Shelby (R-AL)
Tillis (R-NC)
Toomey (R-PA)
Tuberville (R-AL)
Not Voting - 3
Cornyn (R-TX)
Leahy (D-VT)
Merkley (D-OR)