| Ever since his first campaign for Congress, which saw him carrying around his dusty army boots as a political prop, Rep. Steve Buyer (IN-4) has enjoyed crafting an image of himself as the best friend our military ever had. Unfortunately, the years have shown this to be far from the truth.
Rep. Buyer gained attention when he leapfrogged a more senior colleague, Rep. Christopher H. Smith, to become the chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. The reason for this was that Rep. Smith was calling for increased spending on veteran's benefits, and the Bush administration wanted to keep spending down, despite the fact that the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan were causing exponential increases in the amount of services required. Through his strong-armed tactics and clearly established lack of respect for most veteran's groups, Rep. Buyer quickly found himself as one of the least-liked members of Congress when it came to providing for our nation's finest. Some examples:
Today brings news of yet another example of the frustrating disregard that Rep. Buyer has for the men and women who are serving in conflicts that he openly supports.
Yesterday, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs held a hearing that sought to examine PTSD and the role that the VA should have in making sure our soldiers receive full and adequate treatment upon their return to the United States. Entitled, "PTSD and Personality Disorders: Challenges for the VA," the hearing offered a chance for those personally affected by the horrors of war to tell their story, in hopes of highlighting the numerous problems that the current VA setup has in dealing with the psychological scars of war.
Specifically, army veteran Jonathan Town spoke of the horrific attack he lived through in Iraq, and the emotional scars that have followed him back home. A highly decorated soldier, Town described the extreme difficulties he has had attempting "to adjust to loud noises, large groups of people, and forgetting what had happened to my unit and myself while we were in Iraq…."
Town spoke to a psychiatrist in between deployments, and was told he could accept a "Personality Disorder" discharge, but upon taking this path, Town quickly discovered that he was no longer eligible for the psychological treatment he required from the VA, and worse yet, was being billed $3000 by the military for failing to serve his full term. The army argued that this was a pre-existing condition, but Town clearly was not in such a state of mind before his deployment to Iraq. These are battle wounds, plain and simple, and the fact that our VA system does not provide a solution for soldiers in these situations is something that, thankfully, is finally receiving attention through hearings such as the one held yesterday.
But how does Rep. Steve "friend of the military" Buyer fit in to all of this? Well as a Greg Kaufmann of The Nation reveals, Buyer had little or no interest in the contents of yesterday's committee meeting. It's encouraging that committee member Phil Hare has introduced the Fair Mental Health Evaluation for Returning Veterans Act to suspend and review personality disorder discharges, and Senator Barack Obama ? has introduced a companion bill in the Senate. (Stay tuned for a future Legislation Watch post).
What is less encouraging is that the Ranking Member, Republican Congressman Steve Buyer, began this hearing by questioning whether the Committee on Veterans Affairs had jurisdiction over these matters of veterans' health. It was even more disturbing that Buyer never looked at Town during his testimony, talked with the member to his right during it, and even seemed to chuckle at one point. When it was his turn to question the panel, Buyer decided to shoot the messenger. He berated Kors for not naming names of commanders who were pressuring doctors for the Personality Disorder diagnosis. He berated him for not naming names of the doctors who were making the diagnosis (he spoke over Kors as he offered one name - psychologist Mark Wexler at Fort Carson). He castigated the reporter for "syllogism and innuendo," to which another panelist - veteran Paul Sullivan, Executive Director of Veterans for Common Sense - replied that it sounded like Congressmen he knew.
Kors told Buyer he wouldn't reveal his sources - who feared for their jobs - no matter how Buyer pressured him. And Filner reminded the Committee that he himself had been tipped by a psychiatrist about pressure from commanders but that that individual wouldn't testify for fear of retribution. Rep. Steve Buyer has a proven track record of clearly disregarding the needs of the men and women that he purports to serve. While he proudly waves around his military credentials at every turn, he has happily shilled for the Bush administration as they sought to cut VA benefits for soldiers and veterans alike. While no clear opponent has arisen to challenge Buyer in next year's elections, it is critical that stories like these are brought to light for the people of Indiana's fourth district. For too long Steve Buyer has been permitted to spread lies of his own compassion while simultaneously stabbing those served by the VA in the back, and it long past time that Indiana was given the representation it deserves. |
