OP-ED: Wisconsin Republicans Leaving Veterans Behind

Wisconsin Republican Congressman Derrick Van Orden recently made headlines for saying he hopes funding continues to be cut at the Department of Veterans Affairs – and he certainly isn’t the only Wisconsin Republican attacking care for veterans in the Badger State. 

Days ago Van Orden, along with every single one of his fellow Wisconsin Republicans in Congress, voted to pass Trump’s budget bill that could gut health care access for veterans at a time when these same Republicans were complicit in the firing of thousands of VA employees – some of them veterans themselves – who provide essential services to veterans and their families in Wisconsin.

It’s happening in our state legislature, too.

Just two weeks ago, Republican state lawmakers on the state budget committee axed funding for veterans’ mental health support and a property tax credit for veterans in Wisconsin, along with more than 600 other items from our state budget.

Rep. Mark Born, a Republican co-chair of the committee that made the cuts, described the essential resources they threw out as a, “pile full of stuff that didn’t make sense.”

When given a chance to preserve these specific programs for veterans, Republicans on the budget committee like Sen. Howard Marklein, Sen. Romaine Quinn, and Rep. Shannon Zimmerman voted no.

Wisconsin’s veterans deserve better. Call your state and federal lawmakers today and demand they stop these cuts to veterans’ jobs, healthcare, housing, and mental health support.