Jon Stewart shreds Republican 'hypocrites' for filibustering veterans health bill



Comedian Jon Stewart appeared on the right-wing media outlet Newsmax on Thursday and shredded the Republican Party's blockage of a United States Senate Veterans Affairs Committee bill to provide health care to veterans who were exposed to poisonous substances while serving overseas.

The filibuster of the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act (PACT) was led by retiring Senator Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania).

"It's not just not true," Steward said of the GOP's claim that the legislation contains "unrelated spending."

READ MORE: Susan Collins under fire for threatening to tank marriage rights bill

Republicans, Steward continued, "don't like that it's mandatory as opposed to discretionary. There isn't unrelated spending to it. They're saying, 'there could be if there isn't oversight.' But that's what the Senate's job is. The bill itself is incredibly detailed and prescriptive about what it's for. It's about treating and preventing the different conditions that veterans are coming home with including cancers and chronic bronchiolitis and all these other issues from their exposures in Iraq in Afghanistan. And to push back on what they're saying, they're saying, 'what if this creates a slush fund?' Right? So, are you familiar with something called the OCO – the Overseas Contingency Operations Fund?" Steward asked anchor Shaun Kraisman.

"Fairly, yes," Kraisman replied.

Stewart underscored why that obscure statute – and its backing by lawmakers – is significant.

"So every year, 50 billion, 60 billion, 70 billion dollars is added to what's called the OCO on top of the 600 billion, 700 billion, 800 billion that goes to the Defense Department. That OCO fund is actually a slush fund. Sixty to 70 billion dollars every year – no oversight, no guardrails – and every one of those Republicans that voted against healthcare for veterans voted for the slush fund for the war," Stewart explained.

READ MORE: 'Flag-waving' liberal Norman Lear, now 100, warns against the 'threat of authoritarianism' America faces

"They don't support the troops; they support the war machine," Steward added. "And that's gotta stop. The value of the US military isn't in the toys. It's not in the hardware, it's not in the tanks. It's in the men and women. And until they start supporting them in the manner that they purport to online, they are hypocrites."

Watch below or at this link.

READ MORE: 'Go ahead': Anthony Fauci dares Republicans to investigate him



from Alternet.org https://ift.tt/uAyz1HU
via sinceretalk

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PA GOP Senate candidate who says he 'started with nothing' actually grew up in a mansion

Image
David McCormick, who is Pennsylvania's presumptive Republican U.S. Senate nominee, has often suggested he grew up poor in a rural community. But a new report finds that his upbringing was far more affluent than he's suggested. The New York Times reported Friday that McCormick — a former hedge fund executive who lived in Connecticut as recently as 2022 — has been cagey with voters about his childhood. McCormick has tweeted that he was "raised in Bloomsburg working on his family's farm," said on a 2022 podcast that he " started with nothing " and told CBS News that same year that he " didn't have anything " growing up as the son of two schoolteachers. But according to the Times , McCormick's father, Dr. James H. McCormick , was appointed president of what is now Bloomsburg University by Gov. Milton Schapp (D) in 1973. He moved his family into Buckalew Place — the official mansion for presidents of the school that currently spans 5...
Read more

How misinformation could shape the Israel-Hamas war

Image
I wanted to interview Nicholas Grossman regarding the role of misinformation in the war between Israel and Hamas. In particular, I hoped to ask the professor of international relations at the University of Illinois, and senior editor of Arc Digital , about misinformation that arose from American reporting on an explosion at a hospital in Gaza. You know what? I ended up repeating a bit of misinformation! I asked him to lay out the facts about a blast that “killed hundreds, including kids,” and he said nuh-uh (not his words). In fact, Professor Grossman said, “there never were hundreds killed by an explosion at that hospital. Media reported that the hospital was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike killing 500, but that was based on something a Hamas-controlled agency said and was never supported by evidence.” Professor Grossman went on to say “what apparently did happen is something hit a nearby parking lot and caused a smaller explosion, most likely a rocket fired from Gaza towards I...
Read more

Trump was hit by glass fragments — not a bullet: report

Image
Law enforcement officials have claimed to two different sources that former President Donald Trump was not grazed by a bullet but rather by glass shards. The officials in question told both Newsmax's Alex Salvi and Axios' Juliegrace Brufke that Trump was hit by glass shards that may have erupted from the shattering of a teleprompter that was hit by gunfire. Earlier on Saturday, law enforcement sources confirmed that the person suspected of firing a weapon at a Pennsylvania Trump rally had been killed, as had at least one person in the crowd. Videos showed Trump grabbing his neck after apparent gunshots had been fired before Secret Service agents pulled him to the ground. They then took him away in an armored vehicle to a hospital where he was treated for injuries. The identity of the shooting suspect has not yet been released. from Alternet.org https://ift.tt/ILgqr53 via sinceretalk
Read more