Alan Simpson Says Veterans Who Are Agent Orange Victims Are ?Not Helping Us Save The Country?
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on September 2nd, 2010 4:40 am by HL
Alan Simpson Says Veterans Who Are Agent Orange Victims Are ?Not Helping Us Save The Country?
The Republican co-chair of President Obama’s Deficit Commission, former Sen. Alan Simpson, has been the subject of controversy recently following comments he made comparing the Social Security system to a “milk cow with 310 million tits.” Critics of Simpson’s comments took offense not only at his vulgar language but at his apparent belief that the Social Security system is in dire straits and may require cuts in benefits to stay solvent.
Now, Simpson has turned his focus to a different topic: veterans receiving disability benefits as a result of being exposed to Agent Orange in the Vietnam War. Speaking to the press, Simpson complained that these benefits run “contrary to efforts to control federal spending,” and even went as far as to say that “the irony” is that “the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess”:
The system that automatically awards disability benefits to some veterans because of concerns about Agent Orange seems contrary to efforts to control federal spending, the Republican co-chairman of President Barack Obama’s deficit commission said Tuesday.
Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson’s comments came a day after The Associated Press reported that diabetes has become the most frequently compensated ailment among Vietnam veterans, even though decades of research has failed to find more than a possible link between the defoliant Agent Orange and diabetes.
“The irony (is) that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess,” said Simpson, an Army veteran who was once chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
“It’s the kind of thing that’s just driving us to this $1 trillion, $400 billion deficit this year,” said Simpson of the benefits. “It’s not that I’m an uncaring person, but common sense is the most uncommon thing in Washington.”
Given that the VA estimates that providing care for veterans exposed to Agent Orange would cost only $67 billion over the next decade, it is difficult to imagine why Simpson would see the program as prime for cost-cutting. If the deficit co-chair is really serious about cutting waste out of the government and tackling the deficit, there are far more attractive targets. Earlier this year, Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-MA) Sustainable Defense Task Force identified nearly $1 trillion in waste that can be cut from the defense budget over the next ten years simply by eliminating outdated Cold War-era programs.
Meanwhile, as the Center for Economic and Policy Research demonstrates with its Health Care Budget Calculator, if the United States were to move to a more efficient health care system — which could be done partly by offering an efficient Medicare-style insurance plan to all Americans, which commission member Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) advocates for — like those of our Canadian and European neighbors, our debt would virtually disappear over time.
Bolton On Running For President In 2012: ?I?m Not Saying No?
Earlier this week, when the Daily Caller asked neoconservative war hawk John Bolton if he wanted to run for president in 2012, the former (recess-appointed) U.N. ambassador wouldn’t rule out the possibility. “You know, as somebody who writes op-eds and appears on the television, I appreciate as well as anybody that…there is a limit to what that accomplishes,” he said. But today on Fox News, Bolton indicated that he’s getting more interested in making a run for the White House, saying, “I’m not saying ‘no’”:
HOST: Are you running for president in 2012?
BOLTON: Well it’s a great honor when people ask me that question and I have been asked that question. I don’t think anybody involved in politics should worry about that until after the elections this fall because I think they’re so important. So that’s to the extent I get involved, that’s where I’m going to put my focus for now.
HOST: So you’re not saying no?
BOLTON: I’m not saying no, that’s right.
Watch it:
“What concerns me,” Bolton told the Daily Caller, “is the lack of focus generally in the national debate about national security issues.” ThinkProgress would be eager to witness Bolton campaign on his ideas:
– Bomb Iran, (or at least allow Israel to do it) and change the regime.
– Endless wars (because “we’re not going to eliminate violent conflict until homo sapiens ceases to exist as a separate species”).
One thing is clear. If Bolton does decide to run for president, he probably won’t have the support of his former boss.
