the u.s. lyric by bruce springsteen. it said man don t you understand this is something we ve seen in america for a while. talk about this. this idea of separate but equal. we need to combine the active duty care with the va care. is that feasible in the coming years and what would that take for that occur besides executive and congressional action? it takes someone who is in charge to make that happen. you have with diversity of authority which results in chaos which we re seeing now. for example, i served 30 years. my medical records go back to when i was a kid because i was a military brat has not been transferred to the veterans administration even though there s a system that they invested $1 billion in trying do this one system for all the records which failed. it s a matter of willingness and this is something congress can do and should do to fix. again separate but equal does not work. fort belvoir down here has the new walter reed center. huge facilities.
those people need to be clinicia clinicians. this is happening. phoenix did not. they had a secret list, waiting list. i ve interviewed family members that were on that list with a broken back for five months with no care. a broken back. a woman was on this program. we had family members crying saying the va killed their loves ones on this program. 167 payouts. the same fraudulent system is being used in albuquerque, in colorado and west virginia. now florida. if any veteran dies under va care, it s a tragedy and it shouldn t happen. what the va should be doing right now is finding ways to make sure that doesn t happen again. i believe that they re actually doing that now. i mean, we met with some of their administrative leaders today from around the country
to get food when they are used to something so close to them. it hinders their recovery process. this is not just something to walk out and do. this has to be planned now and the trailers where the new dining facility is. they may have handicap accessible ramps but it is not accomdating to all of the soldiers needs. president obama spoke and said the best way to protect the va care is to get rid of the secrestor all together. is that a result of secrestiation and the budget cuts. they are making cuts all over the place. it is a management issue.
john mccain with his legitimate war career, there is a reason that troops abroad donated six times as much money to barack obama as they did to john mccain in the last election. john mccain has on his agenda to get rid of the va. to privatize the va. is there something wrong with va care? not really. not when you compare it to the rest of the health care in this country. veterans like this. this is true about them wanting to privatize veterans care and social security and medicare. it is true this is about policy. sometimes in elections it s easier to cover the wacky factor. sometimes it s easier to talk personalities than policy. when republicans talk, they want to stay very far away from all this stuff. this really is it. this is what they re bringing to the table. joe biden said don t compare us to the almighty, compare us to
as third rail of an issue as i think it is? to me this seems like a positively nuclear proposal. absolutely. and that s why they don t want to talk about it except in republican circles. it is outside the mainstream. i mean, this is not where the american people and i can assure you this is certainly not where the american veterans believe the privatized the va we need to make sure it s strengthened, not to privatize it and cut it loose. who is out there in the government right now or in politics really who is defending these programs? who is talking about how popular these are, who are their cheerleaders? sometimes it seems the people who receive this care as social security beneficiaries or veterans getting va care are left on their own to defend this thing they re benefitting from. that s right. that s because, you know, the veterans in america are the majority population. you talk to the veterans that i served back in bucks county, pennsylvania and northeast