Happy Veterans Day from Peter Roskam

How does Peter Roskam show his support for the troops on Veteran’s Day? Why by voting against spending any money to help improve their lives, that’s how.

Actually, the vote took place on 11/6, this past Tuesday. It was the vote on passage of the conference version of H.R. 3043: Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008. The bill passed and has been Presented to President Bush who has threatened a veto. The bill includes provisions to help veterans including:

• $228 million for employment programs for veterans
• $3.6 billion for job training programs
• $3.4 billion in unemployment-insurance and employment-services programs
• $906 million for mental health services
• $23.6 million for homeless veterans

Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are having a tough time. Reservists returning from active service often face job loss, despite the legal protections that exist to prevent it. Post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide are epidemic among returning vets. Hundreds of vets are returning home with traumatic brain injuries and an estimated 500-1000 veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq are homeless.

This bill would offer concrete assistance to help veterans. But Peter Roskam and George Bush prefer to show their support by making speeches and having their pictures taken with wounded vets. They don’t want to have to spend any money.

The irony is, of course, that they do want to keep pouring billions into Iraq and Afghanistan and to keep the flow of wounded veterans coming.

Veterans of the 6th Congressional district, Peter Roskam is not your friend.