Madison Cawthorn’s False Promise to Veterans
In Cawthorn’s recent update, he stated, “Our veterans are the reason we live in a free country today; they deserve the best treatment our country has to offer.” Apparently, this is just so much talk.
On January 20, the House passed the Ensuring Veterans’ Smooth Transition Act (EVEST). It requires the VA to automatically enroll veterans in the VA Health Care System when they are separated from the military. Cawthorn’s comments during a roundtable on the bill clearly gave the impression he supported EVEST.
On January 20, however, Cawthorn joined 44 Republicans in casting a nay vote on EVEST. Nearly 700,000 veterans reside in NC. Proportionate to population, NC ranks ninth in enlistments and second in military deaths. Fewer than one percent of Americans serve in the military. They deserve “the best treatment our country has to offer,” according to Cawthorn. Why, then, did he vote against EVEST?
The typical Republican rationale is cost. If the U.S. can afford to spend $2.4 trillion on war in Afghanistan and Iraq, three-quarters of a trillion dollars annually on the defense budget, and 1.7 trillion on the F-35 that is still not fully operational, it can afford the EVEST Act, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost $3.1 billion over the 2022-2026 period. (One F-35 costs $78 million.) Veterans earned and deserve the care EVEST will afford them.
If you support veterans, tell Cawthorn that empty talk is not acceptable. Action counts, not glib comments.
Bruce Carruthers
Asheville, NC
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