"Promises Made" Once Meant "Promises Kept"
By William Bailey (03/06/03)
Once upon a time in the land of the free and the home of the brave, money was borrowed and lent on a handshake . . . money changed hands without changing people. And, when somebody told you they would do something, it was a commitment on which you could count. And, you could trust Government to do what they said they were going to do.
Unfortunately, all of those characteristics seem to be from another time in our history. All bear consideration and evaluation. However, the one I would like to ask you to think about is the last one . . . that you could trust Government to do what they said they were going to do. And, with particular emphasis on the "promises made" to the men and women of the United States Military services.
One of the enticements for an individual to join the military service has always been the benefit of medical care (among others) after completion of service. Sadly, however, this promise has not been kept.
In an effort to undo the wrong, Congress passed a 1996 law that declared all veterans eligible to receive medical care. So . . . isn't that good enough ? Well, not exactly.
You need to understand that there are two types of legislative bills: authorizing and appropriating. It's one thing to get an "authorizing" bill passed, it's quite another to get the required funds appropriated. It looks good, on the surface, for lawmakers to be able to say, "we passed this bill or that bill", but unless the requisite funds were included, you don't really have a whole lot.
Based on a recent survey done by the American Legion, a patient's average wait for an appointment with a primary care physician at VA clinics is seven months. And, 58% of those responding indicated that appointments had been rescheduled for an extra wait of 2.6 months. A separate VA survey shows that the number of patients who had to wait more than six months to see a doctor dropped from 318,000 in July, 2002 to 236,000 in December, 2002 and to 202,000 last month. Sorry, numbers of this scope are just totally unacceptable. When these citizens enlisted (or were drafted), they weren't given an extra six months to get their personal business in shape . . . or an extra 9.6 months (as in the case of the Legion survey) before they faced the possibility of combat.
Let's face it . . . "promises made" don't mean "promises kept" in this situation.
Now . . . to make the "cheese more binding", a bill has been introduced to reimburse states for the costs of federally mandated emergency health care for illegal aliens. The sponsors of this bill are, Senators McCain (AZ), Kyl (AZ), Hutchinson (TX), Clinton (NY) and House member Shadegg (AZ). The amount of reimbursement called for in the proposal is $1.45 billion per year.
This would appear to be another of those "authorizing" vs. "appropriating" legislative matters. Medical care for illegal aliens is required under the "Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act", which prohibits emergency rooms from turning any patient away in need of emergency care. Now comes the appropriating request . . . to the tune of $1.45 billion per year.
While the bill, apparently, applies to anyone requiring medical care, there would seem to be something amiss in granting benefits to someone who broke the law to be here.
I'm sure that some of the "bleeding hearts" out there will accuse me of being cold and harsh and hard-hearted. Not so . . . I just happen to believe that you "dance with the one who ‘brung' you". And, that in the context of the "promises made" to those who wore the uniforms of this Nation, there is a far heavier obligation there than to those who are here illegally.
It would seem to me that the effort should be to lessen the number of illegal aliens rather than increasing the funds available for their medical care and other benefits. Now, I realize that's probably too simple an approach, but it makes sense to me.
It is way past time for this Nation and her Government to honor the promises made to the men and women who "went to bat" to continue to preserve and protect those things that are near and dear to us . . . freedom and liberty.
The United States Marine Corps motto is "Semper Fidelis" . . . "Always Faithful". These honored citizens, many of whom, to this day, carry the scars of their injuries and their service, have been "Always Faithful" to their Country. It is now time for the Country to return that loyalty and be "Always Faithful" to them.
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