Budget Proposal Includes Major Retiree Tricare Fee Hikes | Military.com Looking at these proposed changes I think I am going to start writing to my congressman since these will directly affect me.
I have always considered this kind of cr@p breach of contract on the government's part. We enlisted with a particular set of benefits which are continually stripped away. When was the last time you saw Congress' benefits dwindle? Let me guess... Never!? They say "Thank you for your service" Their actions say "F*@# you for your service"
Well, next time they declare a war, perhaps they ought to be the first in - last out. SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! ********** When you lead from the front - that's leadership. When you lead from the rear - that's leadershit. ARRRG! nwlivewire
For sure, please write your Federal Congressional Representative - Congressman/Congresswoman whatever their name - whatever their party. Then go take a look at their voting record since the first day they have been in service to your district (Google is a great start). Look at what kinds of bills they sponsored and/or co-sponsored (if they ever did this), and look at how active they have been in their overall voting record, to include how many times they did not vote (if they voted with their silence/absence, that's still a "vote" and worth noting). Then look at any amendments to bills they either introduced, or voted for or against. Look at the types of bills they voted for. Look at the bills they voted against. Forget about all their rhetoric and smooth talk that pleases your mind. Look at their actions - their VOTING RECORDS. If your Representative isn't honoring their end of this bargain - VOTE THEM OUT - even if they ARE of the same party affiliation as yours. It saddened me when I have done this, but I felt I needed to get rid of the "dead wood", and pruning is needed from time to time in order to get this tree to bear better fruit for my future, and for my kid's future. It take MORE than a POTUS to run this country, to set up objectives and goals, and to legislate rules and everything else. If your district's needs are not being served, if the needs of your district is getting the smooth talk - but no walk - then "FIRE" this elected Representative with your voting for someone else. Congress has to stop pointing fingers and doing the blame game among themselves (party vs. party) and with the POTUS. The same goes for the POTUS. I can totally get the many whys behind our people's feelings of being disenfranchised, and the lack of trust folks seem to have these days with their Federally elected representatives. One of those notions I hear from folks around me in the small, rural family farming/ranching area of Northern California where I'm living at these days, is that they have grown tired of the "Party vs. The People" and with what they perceive as "Party Politics" taking precedence ABOVE the needs of "The People" ("Congress and the POTUS isn't getting much done for everyday people like me"). I'm usually left with the impression that the water in the pot is now hot enough to form bubbles, but they are worried/concerned the pot is going to eventually boil over from lack of regulating back to a moderate heat. So make your vote count and take an active approach to this and go! cast your vote. Write your Senators and Congressional Representatives. Put them on notice. I have. This has worked for me in the past as I suspect in that instance, that my Representative must have received a bunch of letters/emails/phone calls from his district's constituents about that same issue I wrote to him about. Even so, sometimes a "shake-up" is still needed in order to get to a "make-up". If some of these people still want to continue to obstruct, do nothing, delay, deny, know nothing, see nothing, and hear nothing, then your best peaceful alternative to this IS your vote. So vote early and vote often. And should you put all your eggs into one basket again - then you had better keep close watch on that basket, too. IMHO, nwlivewire
I got the craziest response back from a Senator's aide a couple years ago. I copied the section of the Defense Bill as it related to service members and the different treatment of civil service workers, the difference costing veterans tens of $1,000s. The reply - The Senator agrees the different treatment is unfair, but it is in the law and there is nothing he can do about it. WHAT??????? Adding, subtracting and changing laws Is His Job and there are amendments to this one every year. Easy to get Disenfranchised - when the lawmakers have been lobotomized!!!
Or just bought and paid for by big business and banksters... The US congress is the best big business can buy! After all they are people too!
Know what you mean. This is why I examine how/what my Vote has done by checking out my Rep's voting record. Sometimes Congress gets the bill through with amendments, and sends it to the Senate. Senate comes back with changes and/or sometimes votes it through for the President to sign or veto. Congress and Senate sometimes have to add and subtract certain parts of a bill before they can both agree to pass it. By the time the bill gets through both houses, it can be a very different looking thing with a very different strength of intention. And this is assuming the bill didn't die in Committee somewhere along the way, or get tabled (another death sentence for a Bill). Sometimes a "poison pill" amendment is added to a piece of legislation to ensure it won't pass through both Houses and/or will guarantee a veto by the POTUS. Oh the games that get played in the Houses! And I suspect this is what is part of the problem - and yet, I also wonder WHY and WHO are controlling the levers behind these games in the legislative process. Sometimes I think Bernie Sanders has a valid point in some (but not all) of his thinking/political positions. He's been around the block as the only Congressional Representative from Vermont for around 16 years, then was elected to represent Vermont as a Senator since 2006. I'm sure he knows how these games get played, and he seems quite vocal in "calling out" what he sees as our legislative process becoming "hijacked" by interests other than "the people's" general interests. Regardless of one's perspective on this, our legislative process has always been messy process. And it is important to us that we choose wisely with our vote on who we elect to these chambers, and to monitor the progress of those we send to represent us. If I find my Representative is falling down on the job, then I must vote to return him/her home by using my vote to send someone else during the next election cycle. Parties be damned, it's the principles that count. America's national "health" does matter to me. American lives matter, too - and on many different levels. It time to tend to our business, be an informed voter, and get this nation back to some semblance of balanced order. Just my two cents - and as usual, just my humble opinion. nwlivewire
