With the sacrifices of those in our nation’s armed forces fresh in our mind following Memorial Day, it’s worth pointing out the sharp contrast between Joe Sestak – a progressive patriot – and Curt Weldon – an out of touch politician – on veterans issues.
Yesterday, Joe met with local veterans and veteran service providers, finding solutions and calling on Congress to support increased funding for veterans’ services.
Joe believes that the country should live up to the promises it has made to veterans by fully funding the Veterans Administration and other veterans programs. In fact, as he puts it, “The strength of our country tomorrow depends on the commitments we make today. In order to honor our promises to those who have served with the dignity of danger in the Armed Services, we must fully allocate funds for veterans programs.”
As for Weldon? While he claims he’s a “leading advocate for vets,” his record shows that when push comes to shove, he is not willing to stand up for the interests of veterans, even though close to 13% of his constituents are veterans. His votes tell the whole story:
- Weldon voted against an amendment that would have provided $8 million of funding for combat-related trauma care and $9 million for medical and prosthetic research.
- The same amendment would also have provided $23 million of assistance for the spouses of those killed in the war on terror who have children to care for [HR 2528, Vote #224, 5/26/2005].
- Voted against exempting National Guard and Reserve who had incurred debts as a result of being called to active duty, from new legislation which made it more difficult to declare bankruptcy [S 256, Vote #107, 4/14/2005].
- He voted for the Bush energy bill with $10 billion in giveaways to oil companies while voting for a budget that cut veterans’ health care funding by $13.5 billion over five years [HR 95, Vote #149, 4/28/2005].
Joe has a new and better vision for our country. It’s one where our veterans are treated with the respect they deserve and one where we all striving to achieve a common good. It’s a vision where everyone contributes and everyone benefits within a community that is accountable for achieving progress and prosperity.
Actions speak louder than words. The policies of Curt Weldon and the Bush Administration have led to higher health care costs for 2.2 million veterans. The increased costs of prescription co-payments and new enrollment fees will amount to more than $2 billion over five years.
Your actions can speak loudly too. If you believe this President and Congress should have followed through on their promises to veterans – if you are amazed that anyone would vote the way Weldon did on such an important issue – then, we need your help.
Visit Joe’s website and join his mailing list.
Sign up to volunteer.
Give to Joe today so that we can give so much more to veterans tomorrow.
With your help, we can replace Curt Weldon with a true “progressive patriot.”
– Colin Holtz-Eakin
Sestak for Congress
