Blogging Against Senator Sam Brownback Since March 2005
Now this is very puzzling. Senator Brownback, staunch conservative and ever-ready defender of the President’s war in Iraq, voted twice in the last month against the troops.
On April 12th Senator Brownback voted no on S.Amdt. 344 to H.R. 1268. H.R. 1268 is the giant emergency appropriations bill named “Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005 ” Whew… what a mouthful. The amendment in question, S. Amdt. 344 was “To provide $1,975,183,000 for medical care for veterans”
It was practically a party line vote,with only Arlen Specter and Jim Jeffords joining the democrats in voting for the amendment. My question would be “What does Brownback have against the veterans of this country?” Why would he vote against their health care? How can he in good conscience support a war and then turn around and not fund veteran’s health care. Irresponsible and reprehensible.
The sad thing is, this vote is not an anomaly. On April 21st Senator Brownback voted against S. Amdt. 520 to the same appropriations bill. This amendment was “appropriate an additional $213,000,000 for Other Procurement, Army, for the procurement of Up-Armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles” AKA Armored Humvees. This amendment thankfully passed due to a significant number of republicans crossing the aisle and supporting a clearly worthy cause.
This vote against armor for Humvees is perhaps the most disturbing of the two. How many times have we heard reports of soldiers dying from IEDs while riding in un-armored vehicles? I can see no good reason to oppose this amendment. Apparently many republican senators agree with me, including: Lott, Martinez, Lugar and McCain among others.
Why does Brownback want to send our troops into battle without the necessary armor to protect their lives and limbs? Why does he pay lip service to veterans and then stab them in the back when they need health care? Why does he think he has any chance of becoming president with these types of votes hanging over his head?
That is what I find most interesting about this. These votes were the action of a senator who feels safe in his district… not of a presidential hopeful who will undoubtedly have his record scrutinized.
I have contacted the Senator’s Press Office and was transferred to voicemail. If I ever get a call back, I’ll update here.
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Blogging Against Senator Sam Brownback Since March 2005
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May 1st, 2005 at 9:57 am
Brownback also hates troops who happen to also be federal employees. He voted to table Durbin’s amendment to make up the difference in pay for federal employees called up for National Guard duty (S.Amdt. 356). That is, these federal employees on Guard duty currently have to take leave without pay, so if their Guard pay is less than their regular pay, they basically get a pay cut for serving our country while many private companies make up the difference for their employees called for duty. So Brownback essentially is saying “screw you” to these troops and their families. Luckily the amendment was not tabled and was eventually agreed to, no thanks to Sam Brownback.
October 7th, 2005 at 2:13 am
I’m proud of people who have joined the National Guard. It is a part-time job, which provides
training in areas that people don’t have access to during their “day jobs”. However, it is
puzzling to me that you joined the Guard with the understanding that, if called, the Federal
Government would grant you leave without pay. Now, you want to blame others because they’re
not prepared to up the ante for you. Complain when they take something from you that you did not
expect; not when they don’t give you something you never anticipated.