| | Barack Obama | John McCain |
| The 21st Century GI Bill. Provides better educational opportunities to veterans of the (signed into law 6/30/2008) | Supported and voted for the bill. | Did not support. Publicly said he opposed the measure because the benefits would “encourage more people to leave the military.” (S.Amdt. 4803 to H.R. 2642, Vote 137, 5/22/08; Globe, 5/23/08; ABCNews.com, 5/26/08). |
| Increase Funding for Veterans’ Health Care | Co-sponsored bill to provide an additional $1.5 billion for veterans’medical care. (Time, 2/20/06) | Voted to cut, eliminate, or gut veterans’ health care funding at least 29 times since 1990.HR 4939, Vote #111, 5/4/06; HR 4939, Vote #98, 4/26/06; SCR 83, Vote #70, 3/16/06; SCR 83, Vote #67, 3/16/06; SCR 83, Vote #63, 3/16/06; SCR 83, Vote #41, 3/14/06; HR 4297, Vote #15, 2/13/06; HR 4297, Vote #7, 2/2/06; S 2020, Vote #343, 11/17/05; HR 2863, Vote #251, 10/5/05; HR 2528, Vote #242, 9/22/05; HR 2361, Vote # 165, 6/29/05; HR 2361, Vote # 166, 6/29/05; HR 2361, Vote # 168, 6/29/05; HR 1268, Vote #90, 4/12/05; HR 1268, Vote #89, 4/12/05; SCR 95, Vote #40, 3/10/04; S 1689, Vote #379, 10/14/03; SCR 23, Vote #81, 3/25/03; S 2168, Vote #185, 7/7/98; S 936, Vote #168, 7/10/97; HR 3666, Vote #276, 9/5/96; HR 3666, Vote # 275, 9/5/96; HR 2099, Vote #466, 9/27/95; HR 4624, Vote #256, 8/4/94; HR 1335, Vote #97, 4/1/93; S 2884, Vote #226, 8/4/90; HR 2519, Vote #132, 7/17/91. |
| Improve Military Health Facilities | Sponsored the Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act to improve the quality of care at military hospitals like Walter Reed. (Reuters, 2/20/07; The Hill, 2/21/07; S. 713, 2/28/07) | Voted against establishing a $1 billion trust fund to improve military health facilities, like the S.Amdt. 2707 to H.R. 4297, Vote 7, 2/2/06) |
| Provide Better Counseling Services for Veterans with Mental Disorders | Proposes more mental health professionals, improved screening, fairer system to set post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) benefits and established standards of care for traumatic brain injuries. (www.barackobama.com) Introduced the Veterans Homelessness Prevention Act to provide support services to keep veterans from falling into homelessness. (Obama Senate Press Release, 11/9/07) | Voted against an amendment to appropriate $500 million annually from 2006-2010 for counseling, mental health and rehabilitation services for veterans diagnosed with mental illness, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or substance abuse. (S. 2020, S.Amdt. 2634, Vote 343, 11/17/05) |
| Served on Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee | Requested assignment to Veterans’ Affairs Committee. | Never served on Veterans’ Affairs Committee in his 26 years in the Senate. |
Communications Workers of America www.cwavotes.org
John McCain does not support veterans in the way he appears to. He is constantly discussing his past experience as a POW and saying that veterans know he is there for them, however, his voting record shows a different loyalty. His support for veterans seems to be a false presumption most people make because of his military experience. In actuality he has voted against most recent legislation supporting veterans and Barack Obama seems to support veterans in a much more real way than John McCain. The chart above shows a side by side comparison between Barack Obama and John McCain in regards to veterans benefits and we can see that Barack Obama supports veterans by supporting or co sponsoring bills that increase educational opportunities, increase funding for health care, improving facilities, and improving mental health services.
On John McCain's website he has a page entitled "Commitment to
Health care is an especially interesting example to look at. According to johnmccain.org "he (John McCain) is committed to ensuring that veterans' health care programs receive the funding necessary to provide the quality health care our veterans need and deserve". However, we can see from the chart above that he has voted to cut funding at least 29 times since 1990. It can be seen from this example and other that while John McCain has done a good job of appealing to veterans and military personal and families he does not actually look out for their needs through legislation.
This information has not been at the forefront of the campaign and it would be in Senator Obama's interest to publicize these facts. I was incredibly surprised when looking over Senator McCain's voting record. I had been under the impression that veterans issues were a major priority to Senator McCain but I can now see that I was simply being misled.
Below is a link to a You Tube video where Senator Obama discusses the GI bill on the Senate floor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKRMTkutuMA
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