THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS URGE SENATOR COBURN TO END HOLD ON VETERANS SPENDING BILL ON VETERANS DAY
Oklahoma veteran urges Coburn to consider what he's doing and honor veterans by ending hold
NORMAN, Okla. - Over 13,000 petition signatures, raised in a matter of less than a week, were delivered to Senator Tom Coburn, calling on him to end his hold on a veterans spending bill. The petition, sponsored by VoteVets.org and retired General Wesley Clark's "Securing America," calls on Coburn to end his hold on S. 1963, "The Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009." The petition language is below.
"On this veterans day, I'd urge Senator Coburn to think about the thousands and thousands of veterans he's hurting by playing politics with veterans care," said Miranda Norman, Oklahoma State Captain for VoteVets.org and a veteran of the war in Iraq. "From wounded veterans, to women veterans, to rural veterans, to those suffering mental wounds, Senator Coburn's games hurt vets across the board. The best thing he can do to honor veterans today is to release his hold on this bill."
VoteVets.org circulated the petition on Thursday of last week. Almost immediately, it gained over 10,000 signatures. The petition reads as follows:
We the undersigned call on you to stop this disgraceful move of holding up some very important veteran legislation, S. 1963, "The Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009." While this is a legal move, we think it is morally wrong for you to hold up any veterans benefits during a time when our men and women in uniform are giving so much to our country.
You are denying veterans a myriad of benefits and services. One of these benefits is caregiver assistance to our most wounded veterans. Severely injured veterans often need assistance to do some of the smallest tasks, and generally family members often putting quite the strain on those family members do that assistance. This bill will provide much needed relief for those caregivers by allowing for family caregiver assistance and lodging and food assistance for attending caregivers.
You are blocking some benefits specifically for women veterans. Title 2 of this bill deals with issues like Military Sexual Trauma, women-specific health care matters, and newborn health issues.
Other aid in the bill concerns rural veteran health care issues, mental health care matters and programs to help ease the burden of veteran homelessness. You are blocking that too.
Now is not the time to play petty political games with our veterans. What you are doing is shameful, and those of us who are veterans and support veterans will not stand for it.
VoteVets.org is the leading progressive, pro-military organization of veterans, dedicated to the destruction of terror networks around the world, with force when necessary. It primarily focuses on education and advocacy on issues of importance to the troops and veterans, and holding politicians accountable for their actions on these issues.
