#HelpVets Troops face devastating one-two punch 27FEB14

SOME people think they are supporting our troops by passing on sappy e mails that make them feel good or by thanking an active duty service person or military vet for their service. Well, neither does anything to put food in their and their family's mouth or provides the health care, education, job training and other benefits they deserve for their service to our country. Yet the same people who feign gratitude and concern for our troops and vets can't be bothered to challenge, to demand their Representative and Senators pass legislation and provide the funding for the support and programs our troops need. The cuts to food stamps / SNAP and subsidies to military commissaries coupled with the filibuster in the Senate of S1982 (Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act of 2014 ), reflect the hypocrisy of the gop and democrats and president regarding the support and welfare of our troops and vets. Failure of everyone who claims to support our troops to contact their Representative http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and Senators http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm and Pres Obama http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact and demand better for our active duty military and our vets and less for the brass and military-industrial complex will expose their hypocrisy too. More at #HelpVets VETS BILL DIES IN SENATE, HOW YOUR SENATOR VOTED & With just 41 votes, Republican senators block veterans benefits bill 27FEB14 ( http://bucknacktssordidtawdryblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/vets-bill-dies-in-senate-how-your.html )
Mark E Andersen for Daily Kos Labor

Military food stamp use

When you think of someone who receives food stamps you generally do not think of someone serving our nation in uniform as being a recipient of food stamps. Surely we pay our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines enough money each month to support a family. Well, the sad truth is that no, junior enlisted do not make enough money to support a family. Which is why so many military families qualify for food stamps and is also why food stamp use in Commissaries (a grocery store on post) have gone from $26.2 million in fiscal year 2006 to $103.6 million in 2013.

Some of the growth in soldiers' redemption of food stamps reflects the weak economic recovery, especially for spouses looking for jobs. In 2012, there was a 30% unemployment rate among spouses off active-duty military who were 18 to 24 years old, according to the Military Officers Association of America, which released the survey last week.

Cuts in the food stamp programs will only make things worse for many military families. But, that is not the worst part. Coupled with cuts in food stamp programs...

...the Defense Department subsidy [for commissaries] would drop from $1.4 billion annually to $400 million under a defense budget proposal the Obama administration plans to deliver to Congress next week, Pentagon officials announced Monday. The commissary cut will be accomplished not by eliminating any commissary locations, but by reducing the amount of savings over civilian markets that service members enjoy.

Talk about a double whammy. Congress makes cuts to benefits that junior enlisted troops need in order to feed their families and at the same time the DOD is cutting one billion dollars from the commissaries budget. Which puts many young military families at risk. It never ceases to amaze me; our government blows billions of dollars on weapons systems that don’t work and that we don’t need – yet we expect these young men and women to put their lives on the line day in and day out and we pay them so little that they have to use food stamps to make ends meet and to top it all off we whittle away at the benefits they receive costing them even more money that they do not have.
Instead of the Pentagon pissing away more money on an aircraft carrier, fighter jet, or some other weapons system we don’t need, how about making sure the young men and women who put their lives on the line every day are adequately cared for.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/27/1280110/-Troops-face-devastating-one-two-punch?detail=email

#HelpVets VETS BILL DIES IN SENATE, HOW YOUR SENATOR VOTED & With just 41 votes, Republican senators block veterans benefits bill 27FEB14

SENATE repiglicans and tea-baggers put the interest of the pro Israel lobby and US military-industrial complex profit margins ahead of American veterans. They insisted on attaching an amendment to this bill that would have imposed new sanctions on Iran and pushed us closer to war with Iran. They insisted on an amendment that would have increased the probability of more American military deaths, more wounded, more disabled military service personnel, and when they didn't get their way filibustered and killed legislation that would have provided more health care, more education and more job training for American vets. They should be ashamed, and the American people and vets should remember this vote. Check out how your Senator voted below. From Sen Bernie Sanders I VT, Daily Kos and Roll Call......

Senate Republicans on Thursday derailed legislation to expand health care, education and job-training benefits for the nation’s 22 million veterans. “I have a hard time understanding how anyone could vote for tax breaks for billionaires, for millionaires, for large corporations and then say we don't have the resources to protect our veterans,” Bernie told the Senate before his legislation was sidetracked on a mostly party-line vote. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Bernie’s bill was backed by more than two dozen veterans’ service organizations. “I don’t know how anyone who voted ‘no’ today can look a veteran in the eye and justify that vote,” said American Legion Commander Daniel Dellinger. Bernie isn’t giving up. Just three more Republican votes are needed to pass the bill. CNN's Chris Cuomo called what happened "outrageous."

Watch CNN's Chris Cuomo explain the vote

http://youtu.be/NTaLcCny1K0 

Thu Feb 27, 2014 at 01:15 PM PST

With just 41 votes, Republican senators block veterans benefits bill

by Jed Lewison

AP reports on the GOP's successful filibuster of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' veterans benefits bill:

Senate Republicans have blocked a Democratic bill that would enrich health, education and job-training programs for the nation's 22 million veterans.

And why did Republicans—who "won" the vote because "only" 56 senators voted in favor of moving forward with the bill—decide to block it?

Republicans complained that the bill was too expensive. And they were upset that Majority Leader Harry Reid prevented a vote on a GOP amendment cutting the bill and adding sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program.

Ah yes, we mustn't be too generous when it comes to the people we ask to defend our country with their lives. Especially not when we're not even able to have a vote on an unrelated piece of legislation, even if that unrelated piece of legislation would make it more likely that we'd send even more veterans to their death, as their Iran sanctions bill would do. Lovely Republican Party, eh?
SENATE vote on S1982.
U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 113^th Congress - 2^nd Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On the Motion (Motion to Waive All Applicable Budgetary Discipline Re: S.1982 )
Vote Number:	46	Vote Date:	February 27, 2014, 02:26 PM
Required For Majority:	3/5	Vote Result:	Motion Rejected
Measure Number:	S. 1982 (Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act of 2014 )
Measure Title:	A bill to improve the provision of medical services and benefits to veterans, and for other purposes.

Vote Counts:	YEAs	56
	NAYs	41
	Not Voting	3

Grouped by Home State Alabama: Sessions (R-AL), Nay Shelby (R-AL), Nay Alaska: Begich (D-AK), Yea Murkowski (R-AK), Not Voting Arizona: Flake (R-AZ), Nay McCain (R-AZ), Nay Arkansas: Boozman (R-AR), Nay Pryor (D-AR), Yea California: Boxer (D-CA), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea Colorado: Bennet (D-CO), Yea Udall (D-CO), Yea Connecticut: Blumenthal (D-CT), Yea Murphy (D-CT), Yea Delaware: Carper (D-DE), Yea Coons (D-DE), Yea Florida: Nelson (D-FL), Not Voting Rubio (R-FL), Nay Georgia: Chambliss (R-GA), Nay Isakson (R-GA), Nay Hawaii: Hirono (D-HI), Yea Schatz (D-HI), Yea Idaho: Crapo (R-ID), Nay Risch (R-ID), Nay Illinois: Durbin (D-IL), Yea Kirk (R-IL), Nay Indiana: Coats (R-IN), Nay Donnelly (D-IN), Yea Iowa: Grassley (R-IA), Nay Harkin (D-IA), Yea Kansas: Moran (R-KS), Yea Roberts (R-KS), Nay Kentucky: McConnell (R-KY), Nay Paul (R-KY), Nay Louisiana: Landrieu (D-LA), Yea Vitter (R-LA), Nay Maine: Collins (R-ME), Nay King (I-ME), Yea Maryland: Cardin (D-MD), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea Massachusetts: Markey (D-MA), Yea Warren (D-MA), Yea Michigan: Levin (D-MI), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Yea Minnesota: Franken (D-MN), Yea Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea Mississippi: Cochran (R-MS), Nay Wicker (R-MS), Not Voting Missouri: Blunt (R-MO), Nay McCaskill (D-MO), Yea Montana: Tester (D-MT), Yea Walsh (D-MT), Yea Nebraska: Fischer (R-NE), Nay Johanns (R-NE), Nay Nevada: Heller (R-NV), Yea Reid (D-NV), Yea New Hampshire: Ayotte (R-NH), Nay Shaheen (D-NH), Yea New Jersey: Booker (D-NJ), Yea Menendez (D-NJ), Yea New Mexico: Heinrich (D-NM), Yea Udall (D-NM), Yea New York: Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea North Carolina: Burr (R-NC), Nay Hagan (D-NC), Yea North Dakota: Heitkamp (D-ND), Yea Hoeven (R-ND), Nay Ohio: Brown (D-OH), Yea Portman (R-OH), Nay Oklahoma: Coburn (R-OK), Nay Inhofe (R-OK), Nay Oregon: Merkley (D-OR), Yea Wyden (D-OR), Yea Pennsylvania: Casey (D-PA), Yea Toomey (R-PA), Nay Rhode Island: Reed (D-RI), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea South Carolina: Graham (R-SC), Nay Scott (R-SC), Nay South Dakota: Johnson (D-SD), Yea Thune (R-SD), Nay Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Nay Corker (R-TN), Nay Texas: Cornyn (R-TX), Nay Cruz (R-TX), Nay Utah: Hatch (R-UT), Nay Lee (R-UT), Nay Vermont: Leahy (D-VT), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Yea Virginia: Kaine (D-VA), Yea Warner (D-VA), Yea Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Yea Murray (D-WA), Yea West Virginia: Manchin (D-WV), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea Wisconsin: Baldwin (D-WI), Yea Johnson (R-WI), Nay Wyoming: Barrasso (R-WY), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State

 
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/video-audio/helpvets?utm_source=berniebuzz&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Chris+Cuomo&utm_campaign=National+Bernie+Buzz+03-01

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/27/1280922/-With-just-41-votes-Republican-senators-block-veterans-benefits-bill?detail=email 

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=113&session=2&vote=00046