Sometimes its easy for me to forget that Sen. Richard Burr is a Republican. He isn’t flashy, his office does well with constituent services, and he has shown support for veterans, an important constituency in military-friendly North Carolina. Oh sure, there’s been an occasional bank run, but Burr hasn’t drawn my outrage like other Republicans.
Until now, that is. Burr was one of the Senate Republicans who voted against a jobs bill designed to get veterans back to work. The bill was bipartisan. It was fully funded at its modest $1 billion over five years. It would’ve put some of America’s heroes – the men and women who wear our uniform – back to work. Nonetheless, Burr and his buddies scuttled it at the last minute because Obama lauded it in his convention speech.
There is simply no excuse for not passing this bill. It’s pathetic. As blogger Jim Wright profanely points out, Congress was all too eager to send our armed forces off to war, but when it is time to welcome these troops home to America Congress gives them the finger?
Burr and his pals want people to believe this is all over a billion dollars. A billion dollars over five years! Shit, the Department of Defense spent more than a billion dollars on air conditioning in Iraq – every month! And yet Congress can’t afford to cough up a quarter-bil each year to help get jobs for the brave men and women who served their country? After all these citizens have sacrificed?
I mean, damn. If there’s one issue that really shows what’s wrong with our current Congress, this is it. I hope veterans everywhere are paying attention.