The Florida Congressional Delegation consistently votes to fund war, but votes against the veterans upon their return from war.  As The Sarasota Herald Tribune reported on Sunday, June 9, 2013, Page 7a, “Votes in Congress” section, the House of Representatives voted against veterans on an important issue last week.

VA has an outrageous backlog of claims and unacceptable waits to determine claims. Nevertheless, the house refused to fund the cost of hiring 94 claims processors in addition to the 94 new positions already funded in the underlying bill.

Florida Delegation members voted as follows:

Dist 1 Jeff Miller (R) NO

Dist 2 Steve Sutherland (R) NO

Dist 3 Ted Yoho (R) NO

Dist 4 Ander Crenshaw (R) NO

Dist 5 Corrine Brown (D) YES

Dist 6 Ron DeSantis (R) NO

Dist 7 John Mica (R) NO

Dist 8 Bill Posey (R) YES

Dist 9 Alan Grayson (D) YES

Dist 10 Daniel Webster (R) NO

Dist 11 Richard Nugent (R) NO

Dist 12 Gus Bilirakis (R) NO

Dist 13 W. Bill Young (R) NO

Dist 14 Kathy Castor (D) Yes

Dist 15 Dennis Ross (R) NO

Dist 16 Vern Buchanan (R) NO

Dist 17 Thomas Rooney (R) NO

Dist 18 Patrick Murphy (D) YES

Dist 19 Trey Radel (R) NO

Dist 20 Alcee Hastings (D) YES

Dist 21 Theodore Deutch (D) YES

Dist 22 Lois Frankel (D) YES

Dist 23 Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D) YES

Dist 24 Frederica Wilson (D) YES

Dist 25 Mario Diaz-Balart (R) NO

Dist 26 Joe Garcia (D) YES

Dist 27 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) NO

In any event, why not have a presumption that the claims are valid and grant them provisionally upon application, and then review them for adjustment if needed? If any veterans file fraudulent claims, they could be appropriately penalized after the claim review. Let’s demand that Congress be on the right of history and end the pending backlog of claims now.

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