Fwd: [smedleyvfp] Wed. VA MISSION Bill Vote Scheduled After 11AM -- CanYouPlsDoAFewMoreCalls to URGE NO VOTES??

[Dan Higgins]

---------- Original Message ----------
From: 'doug stuart' via SmedleyVFP <Smedl...@googlegroups.com>
To: smedl...@googlegroups.com
Date: May 22, 2018 at 11:28 PM
Subject: [smedleyvfp] Wed. VA MISSION Bill Vote Scheduled After 11AM -- CanYouPlsDoAFewMoreCalls to URGE NO VOTES??

Please make calls;  spread the word widely for more calls.  This may be working!

   Doug

-----Original Message-----
From: dbuzzdavis <dbuzz...@aol.com>
To: dbuzzdavis <dbuzz...@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, May 22, 2018 9:42 pm
Subject: WedVA MISSION Bill VoteScheduledAfter11AM CanYouPlsDoAFewMoreCalls to URGE NO VOTES??

DEAR CITIZENS!  PLS CONTINUE FOR NEXT 16 HRS TO CALL SENATORS URGING NO VOTE ON MISSION BILL!  YOU HAVE SLOWED THEM DOWN & NOW WE HAVE TIME TO BUILD A LARGER NO VOTE.

Over 7 million vets who use the VA healthcare system need your help to stop the radical right wingers from destroying the VA.

TODAY's STATUS.  Tues., the Senate conducted a preliminary vote to bring the VA MISSION bill to the floor of the Senate to be voted on.  That vote passed.  Only Sens. Lee (R-UT), Merkley (D-OR), Rounds (R-SD) & Sanders (I-VT) voted NO.  We do NOT know what the plan is for those senators who are working to get a large NO vote on the final vote.

We know this.  The Senate is scheduled to reconvene at 11AM EST Wednesday.  Some of the union experts who lobby Congress think that the VA MISSION bill will come up for floor action late Wed.  So we have time for more calls, if you can do some.

A tremendous lobbying effort is being put forth by a set of AFL-CIO unions to do two things.  FACE to FACE in DC tell senators the reasons urge a NO vote.  Secondly, it it likely tens of thousands citizens are calling senators' offices to urge a NO vote.

Senate staff tally the For and Against calls (some staffers have told us they are getting more NO calls than YES calls.  If this is accurate then we are applying tremendous pressure for a NO vote late Wed.)

Thank you for any calls you have made.  Here is who to call now.

ACTION PLAN:  Continue to call (phones are answered 24/7)

A.  Use this number 202-224-3121 to call the Congressional operator in Washington 24/7.  You will get a recording. Then ask for the below senator and state. You will be connected and then leave your recorded message.

Then repeat with the next senator.

Bernie Sanders (VT)

Elizabeth Warren (MA)
Ed Markey (MA)
Patty Murray (WA)
Sherrod Brown (OH)
Richard Blumenthal (CT)
Mazie Hirono (HI)
Joe Manchin (WV)

Merkley (D-OR)

+ and other senators you feel like calling.

Here below is an AFGE press release on the letter 17 unions signed and sent to ALL US Senators this morning to keep the pressure on them.

Below that is a good press release by the nurses union.

Thank you again for the help!

Buzz Davis, Stop VA Privatization, Fix, Fund & Fully Staff the VA Work Group, Veterans for Peace in Tucson, 608-239-5354

===============

Labor Coalition Calls on Senate to Reject VA MISSION Act

Group says S. 2372 'does nothing to help the VA fulfill its mission to veterans'

PR Newswire

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2018

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Yesterday, seventeen labor organizations cosigned a letter that was sent to every Senate office urging Senators to vote against S. 2372 – the VA MISSION Act. The bill passed in the House last week and will be voted on in the Senate sometime in the next 24 hours.

Leading labor organizations and the unions that represent workers at the VA – including the American Federation of Government Employees which represents 260,000 frontline workers at the agency –  say if the VA MISSION Act is passed, it could lead to the total privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"We have no choice but to stand together with frontline employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and oppose this legislation," the groups write, adding, "Too much is at stake for veterans, their families and everyone who benefits from the VA's extraordinary accomplishments to succumb to political pressures to hurriedly pass potentially damaging changes with many unknown consequences."

The letter was signed by: the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) – which represents 1.6 million veteran workers; AFGE; the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers International Union; the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA; the Maritime Trades Department; IFPTE; the Department for Professional Employees; AFSCME; UNITE HERE; the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, United Mine Workers of America, United Steel Workers of America, Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS); the National Federation of Federal Employees; UFCW International Union; the National Association of Letter Carriers; and Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO.

In the letter, the groups highlighted the "troubling" privatization portions of the VA MISSION Act, saying S. 2372 "outsources primary care to the private sector, authorizes, the outsourcing of entire service lines, and fails to address the chronic and prolonged issue of understaffing that is currently plaguing the VA." They go on to say that the "BRAC Process to deplete the VA medical services account without restrictions," is "especially troubling given the enormous cost overruns associated with military BRACs."

To see the letter cosigned by the 16 labor organizations and the Legislative Alert sent today by the AFL-CIO on the VA MISSION Act, please visit www.afge.org/s2372

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 700,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia, including 260,000 at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

===============

Nurses Condemn VA ‘Mission to Privatize’ Act, Urge Senate to Reject Endangering Healthcare for Veterans

 

National Nurses United today urged U.S. Senators to reject S. 2372, the VA Mission Act which they called a major step towards the privatization of veterans health care which could endanger the health of millions of U.S. service veterans. The Senate is expected to vote as soon as Wednesday on its version of the bill that passed the House last week.

 

“Marketed as a means to expand some benefits for veterans, this bill masks a long desired corporate, far right goal of accelerating the dismantling and privatization of our Veterans Administration program at the expense of countless veterans who have served our nation,” said NNU Co-President Jean Ross, RN. NNU represents 11,000 VA RNs among its 150,000 members.

 

S. 2372 gives the Veterans Administration Secretary the authority to privatize and dismantle broad swaths of the VA system. It also creates a commission, appointed solely by the President bypassing Congress, which would have the ability to close VA medical centers and clinics.

 

“It would be more honest and transparent to call this bill the Mission to Privatize Act and stop the pretense it has any other real goal,” said Ross. “If Congress members want to expand benefits for our veterans, they should enact that legislation as a stand alone measure, not as political cover for a hastening a program of privatization.” NNU strongly supports efforts to expand benefits, as well as to fully fund VA health services, she said.

 

“Despite all the attacks on our precious VA system, the reality is the VA medical system is far better equipped to provide the clinical and cultural expertise needed especially by our wounded veterans,” said Ross.

 

That includes “critical treatment of severe war related injuries, such as traumatic brain and spinal chord injuries, PTSD, and mental health problems. We urge our elected leaders not to abandon our veterans who need this specialized care,” Ross said.

 

Privatization would also cause disproportionate harm to women veterans, warns Ross, noting data that shows women veterans are nearly twice as likely to use VA facilities as their sole source of healthcare.

 

In a letter to Senators today, Ross and NNU Co-President Deborah Burger cited a recent RAND Corporation study, commissioned by the VA, which found that the VA medical system is working as well or better than non-VA care. On average, VA hospitals performed the same or "significantly better" than non-VA hospitals on almost all patient, mortality and effectiveness measures, researchers found. 

 

For outpatients, VA facilities performed better than commercial and Medicaid HMOs; and better or similarly to Medicare HMOs.

 

Additionally, S. 2372 allows for primary care to be given over to private health care providers, which nurses say jeopardizes patient care for our nation’s veterans.

 

“Our registered nurses that provide VA care know that primary care is the heart and soul of the VA. Farming out primary care to other providers will be a major step to dismantling the VA entirely, opening the door to privatize services that have historically been provided at the VA, and undermining one of the other strengths of the VA system—the integration of care,” wrote Burger and Ross, RN in the letter.

 

Private healthcare is also far more expensive than the cost effective VA system, Ross noted. It is expected that the bill would open the door to higher out of pocket costs for veterans at a time many are already struggling with higher housing costs and other economic difficulties.

 

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