{"id":56557,"date":"2014-11-19T13:29:49","date_gmt":"2014-11-19T18:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=56557"},"modified":"2014-11-20T13:10:10","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T18:10:10","slug":"house-veterans-affairs-committee-about-to-hit-the-shitter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=56557","title":{"rendered":"House Veterans Affairs Committee about to hit the shitter"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a veteran, I wanted to voice my disapproval with just how ridiculously horrible this is about to be for all veterans.\u00a0 So here you go.\u00a0 Slight language warning.<\/p>\n

Some back story first.\u00a0 For a while the Chairman of the House Vets Affairs Committee was Bob Filner, and the ranking member was Steve Buyer.\u00a0 I loathed both of them.\u00a0 Filner was a jackass that sexually harassed staffers non-stop, and Buyer, despite being a fellow alumnus took the occasion of the Christmas Tree lighting at the White House to literally scream at me in front of my date in the East Room.\u00a0 Both of them are now gone.\u00a0 Thank God.\u00a0 Those two couldn’t agree on water being wet.\u00a0 The one time I heard Filner say something humorous was when he and I were talking on an escalator and he said he wanted more money for PTSD research because “Lord knows Steve (Buyer) needs a lot of mental health help.”<\/p>\n

After they left, it was Chairman Miller of Florida (GOP) and Ranking Member Mike Michaud of Maine.\u00a0 (Interesting side note, Michaud is the only Dem I remember running a race as a pro-life, pro-gun Dem against a pro-choice, anti-gun GOP.)\u00a0 Anyway, I loved Michaud.\u00a0 One of the nicest guys out there, bar none.\u00a0 Just\u00a0a wonderful human being, and I honestly was rooting for him in his Governor’s race. (Maine is my birth state.)\u00a0 But he lost.<\/p>\n

So now the Dems have an opening for Ranking Member.\u00a0 It’s down between two people (or was), Corrine Brown, and Tim Walz.<\/p>\n

So, some more background.\u00a0 When Walz first ran, I loathed the man.\u00a0 Seriously loathed him.\u00a0 a) He was a sergeant major, and 99 percent of SGM’s are useless.\u00a0 b) He claimed repeatedly that he was an OEF veteran.\u00a0 That statement is true, in so far as he was activated under OEF orders.\u00a0 But he spent his time in Italy.<\/p>\n

Then I met him, and spent damn near 2 hours literally shooting the shit with him.\u00a0 Over everything.\u00a0 When I disagreed with him, I told him so.\u00a0 And unlike all the other prima donnas in Congress, dude actually listened.\u00a0 With the exception of some time I spent with Jim Webb, it was the most entertaining time I spent with a Dem Congressman or Senator not named Herseth or Marshall.\u00a0 I still think his OEF thing was BS, but on a personal level, I really liked him.<\/p>\n

And dude was incensed by the whole VA scandal.\u00a0 Like, red in the face pissed off at hearings.\u00a0 He was a damn bulldog.\u00a0 And honestly, I think he brought great credit to himself and the Vets Affairs Committee, and he got along great with Chairman Miller.\u00a0 Another sidenote, I’ve spent a lot of time with Chairman Miller as well, and he is great.\u00a0 In fact, Gabe Malor (from Ace of Spades) and I had a few beers with him at convention last year, and he never played the “don’t you know who I am” card or anything.\u00a0 He just walked up, stood at the table with us and drank a beer or two.\u00a0 Just awesome dude.<\/p>\n

So anyway, Walz was NOT first in line for seniority on the Vets Affairs Committee.\u00a0 Roll Call has a pretty good recitation of it<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Rep. Tim Walz of Minnesota thought there would be a vote after Thanksgiving on the Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee ranking member race. As it turns out, his face-off against Rep. Corrine Brown of Florida will happen on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

It gives Walz less time than he and his allies said they anticipated to build support around his uphill challenge of Brown, who benefits from seniority and the backing of the Congressional Black Caucus, of which she is a member.<\/p>\n

Before the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee can meet to vote on a recommendation to the full House Democratic Caucus, Walz will have to clear an additional hurdle: A vote on whether he is even eligible to hold the post.<\/p>\n

Walz is the highest-ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress and has had a seat at the Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee table since 2007. He is, however, on the committee via waiver, and his opponents say it doesn\u2019t qualify him to run against Brown, who after nearly two decades on the committee is next in line to succeed the current retiring ranking member, Michael H. Michaud of Maine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anyway, word leaked out today that not only will he NOT be the Ranking Member, he’s being stripped from the Committee.\u00a0 Which is a complete shame, because he at least has some clue about what vets are going through.<\/p>\n

Instead, we get Corrine Brown.\u00a0 Who had this to say:<\/p>\n