Quit playing politics with veterans’ lives
Twenty veterans a day take their own lives ... 150 suicides a week ... 600 a month ... 8,000 a year.
Those are stats from the office of U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, citing federal Veterans Affairs statistics, provided in a recent attempt of an increasingly admirable and courageous thing — trying to get Congress to approve a sensible bill that saves money and, much more importantly, saves lives.
Too bad, then, Walz’s bipartisan Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans bill was denied single-handedly by Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, who refused to let the bill make it to the Senate floor. It’s worth noting that the decision came after Walz’s bill passed the House. Passed the House? Isn’t that something of a teachable oxymoron these days?
Let us tell you a bit about Clay Hunt.
http://www.newarkadvocate.com/story/opinion/editorials/2014/12/23/editorial-quit-playing-politics-veterans-lives/20807051/