June 15, 2007 by Bravo.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, apparently wants to keep the region’s veterans from getting the care they need. The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin reports that Craig is criticizing an appropriations bill that would actually fund the much-ballyhooed vets outpatient clinic at the VA in Walla Walla. Cathy McMorris Rodgers couldn’t wait to pose for photos with VA Secretary Jim Nicholson last summer when he announced plans for the clinic at a surprise visit.

But it is Sen. Patty Murray who is making the right moves for local vets. Her office is reporting passage of a $3 billion appropriation bill for VA improvements. Part of that bill will move the clinic construction project up on the list of priorities for funding in 2009.

A group of vets and community members, called the Walla Walla Community VA Taskforce, meets monthly to check on progress in restoring services that the hospital has lost in recent years. The 20-member group continues to push for 24/7 emergency services and inpatient hospital beds.

Murray’s appropriations bill next goes into House-Senate negotiations, and vets here are hopeful of a presidential signature by August.

The new director of the Walla Walla and Spokane VA hospitals, Sharon Helman, met with the taskforce Thursday to talk about upcoming plans. She reported that documents have been signed to provide local vets with VA-funded emergency hospital services at the downtown hospitals in Walla Walla. Since the VA emergency room was closed, some local vets have faced long delays and denials in getting VA benefits for emergency services at area hospitals.

The taskforce also got word today that John King, the director of Veterans Affairs for Washington State, has submitted to Congress a bill for approval of a joint effort of the state and the VA to establish an 80-patient nursing home at the VA in Walla Walla.

Vets in Southeastern Washington were promised by two VA directors that all lost services would be restored. They are still waiting for the fulfillment of that promise, especially for emergency and hospital care. Thanks to the efforts of Sen. Murray and others, they have some reason for hope.

You can bet Larry Craig and his cronies will be squealing like stuck pigs at the next vote to bring troops home from Iraq. Yet they don’t seem to want to stand and deliver when it comes to paying the real costs of Bush’s war.

Posted in Idaho, Walla Walla, Rural, Iraq, Rants, Cathy McMorris | No Comments »

June 15, 2007 by Stuck In Spokane.

I am currently getting ready to upgrade my copy of the blog software I am using on my server. So if I’m kind of slow posting for the next day or two that is why. I unfortunately have lost “export” functionality and am having to manually export each post and comment. I’m doing this on a test bed to make sure everything is relatively flawless.

Hope all is well!

-Stuck-

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »