What Happens to Our Veterans When the War is Over? (+)

www.jimvaughnforcongress.com

I am running for US Rep in the 8th CD (Seattle, Washington- King and Pierce Counties.)

Tell me your thoughts on these issues. If you agree please send this e-mail to as many friends and family members as possible.

What do we feel about our "American Way of Life and what do we say to our service members when:
• American corporations send jobs overseas.
• $130 Billion was invested in overseas emerging markets last year, rather than investing in the U.S. economy.
• $40 Billion military hardware contract was sent to France.
• They return home to poor employment prospects while our government is gutting our economy and multinational corporations are playing E-Bay with our jobs.
• We have done nothing to provide affordable health care for their families.
• Our educational system is losing ground to other nations.
• Our transportation systems are in disrepair.
• Individuals sit at home intentionally abusing L&I, welfare, and unemployment in order to draw a government check while we go to work each day.
• Our government does not provide adequate care for Veterans.
• Social Security is projected to be bankrupt in the year 2018 and our government spent $21 billion dollars on foreign aid last year and projects to spend $13.2 billion dollars on Pork Barrel Projects.

Economy: It is widely recognized that the U.S. economy is showing the signs of wear and tear. I have significant concerns about a stock market crash or whether bank credit collapses. I propose that even a recession can be devastatingly painful for the average American.

The last time our country experienced a true recession was the period between 1972-1974. As bad as the recession of 1972-74 was, America still had her industrial base to support her throughout. When the recession cleared, we were able to go immediately back to business as usual without too much trouble, thanks to our strong manufacturing economy. Today, our industrial support is gone and we are no longer an industrial economy. Industry today thrives mainly in Third World countries where cheap labor is abundant. In addition, our remaining agricultural support base is rapidly deteriorating. In short, all that remains are services.

It remains to be seen how our service-based economy will carry us through during such a time. Services, after all, depend largely on discretionary incomes and relative prosperity. This is not true of manufacturing which is needed at all times (though in varying degrees). As our economy turns down, how will most service industries make money when discretionary income has largely vanished? The only persons who seem to have comprehended the enormity of our plight are the members of the Federal Reserve, who have cut interest rates. But will their efforts prevail?

Since we have become a service-based economy, it is the discretionary funds that keep our economy moving. For this reason, the Economic Stimulus Package will work as a quick fix. It will also make everyone feel good in an election year. However, the less tax money at the Federal Level, because our government gave up $170 Billion in taxes with this Economic Stimulus Package, means less money will filter down to our state.

The federal government still provides us with a significant amount of revenue, in the form of block grants, but the overall pie is shrinking. As a result, we will have more responsibility for children's health, mass transit, highways, and welfare reform.

To make matter worse, a study has found that the United States' growing trade deficit with China has had an increasingly negative impact on the U.S. economy, causing job losses that reach into the most technologically advanced industries in the manufacturing sector and affect every state, according to a January 11 ,2005 press release by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC). The outlook in 2005 does not appear to be improving and I am also concerned that we are becoming an economic hostage to Communist China. So where does that leave our veterans when they return home? Here are some of my proposals.

New Deal for Veterans: Given our current national debt; the need to be able to compete in a global society, we must have effective transportation systems. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal provided jobs for the unemployed and the Tennessee Valley Authority has been a model for development of Third World Countries. If we created a transportation model, similar to the TVA, the issues of too many agencies would be eliminated. In 1989, Washington State spent $1.4 billion to expand one of the lanes on the I-90 floating bridge. We know that the costs are going to be enormous and how we fund the projects will be a controversial issue.

Most everyone will agree that we need to address our transportation infrastructure. With the current state of our economy and job prospects for our returning service members, a New Deal scenario could provide jobs for our returning Veterans and start the reconstruction of our own country.

Veteran's Family & Healthcare Issues: Sally and I have a staffing service that is focused on assisting Veterans obtain full time employment. The first service member that I placed had recently returned from Iraq. He was married and had children with special medical needs. Since he was in the National Guard, serving in Iraq he received his basic pay allowance, married housing allowance, separation pay, combat pay and hazardous duty pay. Once he returned to Washington, he was unemployed and the only pay he had was a little over $200 per month for his weekend drills.

This young man had mouths to feed, bills to pay, no medical coverage for his family and needed to go to work immediately. As a result, we placed him with a manufacturing firm in Tacoma. Normally, we place service members on our payroll for the typical 90 day probationary period. At the end of that time, if the service member is a good fit for the company, they are hired on a permanent basis.
During the probationary period, employers typically do not offer medical insurance. The service members are entitled to medical through the VA Hospitals. However, there is no coverage for the family members. This is a serious issue and needs to be immediately rectified.

When I am elected, the first piece of legislation that I submit will be that the family members are entitled to a minimum of one year of medical care from the date the service member was discharged.
Vietnam and Iraq Brotherhood Alliance - Due to our active role in assisting Veterans, Sally Daughtery, my fiancée and business partner, discovered a pattern of behavior amongst service members returning from Iraq.

Scenario: service members come to us for job assistance. Once employed, we often talk to them 2-3 times a week on the telephone. In addition, we see them when they come to the farm for their pay check or when we deliver their weekly pay check to their job site. Since our focus is to assist Veterans in obtaining full time employment, they are on our payroll for the typical 90 day probationary period. After that time, they are hired on permanent basis. However, once they are hired on a full time basis and that connection is broken, many of these individuals crash. Without notice, the veterans fail to show up for work and in some cases disappear altogether. Previously they appeared to have made a successful transition from the military to the civilian sector.

Solution: I believe that we need to connect our Veterans returning from Iraq, with Vietnam Veterans and other Veterans that have served in combat. Specifically, we need model Veterans - Citizens in a functional family that have over come the adversity of war that are active and successful in the community. At the very least, we need to listen to them and let them educate us. My solution is to create a link between the two generations of Veterans on the lines of the Big Brother concept. Since our Vietnam Veterans have wrestled with similar issues, it could be emotionally rewarding for them to be a sounding board for the young service member that recently returned.

The Veterans Administration is getting beat up on all fronts. Sometimes when the system is overwhelmed it is time to out source. This is on the same lines as Department of Labors Faith Based and Community Initiatives. Let's embrace Veterans from previous wars that are successful and outsource their experience. The mental health community will probably want to guard its turf. However, it is clear from what I see in the trenches that they are beyond their capabilities. My concern is to take care of the Veterans without drawing lines in a political battleground or an agency trying to protect their turf.

I would like to see the Big Brother have direct access to the Veteran's Administration's Case Workers and the Mental Health specialists. The Big Brother would be part of the team. If a service member were having an extremely difficult time and regresses, this scenario might serve to provide an early warning. Hopefully, this would prevent service members from harming themselves or someone in the local community. From an economical stand point, this is not an expensive program to run. If elected, I will present legislation to enact this concept