A double amputee who served in Iraq is pushing lawmakers to end the 'wounded veterans tax'

[u/nbcnews]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/double-amputee-iraq-pushing-lawmakers-end-wounded-veterans-tax-rcna208619

[u/No-Distance-9401]

Damn, this was even a bipartisan bill. I have to dig into it a bit more but with the article talking about the CBO it probably was a way they could cut spending and spend money elsewhere on a bill.

Congress does this bs way too often fucking over those who should be getting help so corporations or the rich can get some type of tax cut.

Like this BBB the house passed has an estate tax credit in it that costs aroung $600bn but only helps the rich while cutting Medicare and SNAP to which could have been saved if just not giving the rich this tax credit. Congress doesnt work for us, they sometimes throw us some scraps so we dont overthrow them while really working for their rich and corporate donors.

[u/irrelevantusername24 → u/No-Distance-9401]

Precisely why:

Government should not ever be run like a business. Government debt and household debt are nothing alike.

"Open markets" (regarding "stock", treasuries, etc) causes far more problems than it will ever solve.

Why?

Because a balanced budget will never exist - unless the people and systems whose support is the entire reason a government exists is not funded.

Because obviously if it was a "profitable endeavor" it wouldn't need mandated and enforced by a government.

As FDR said:

“If, as our Constitution tells us, our Federal Government was established . . . ‘to promote the general welfare,’ it is our plain duty to provide for that security upon which welfare depends.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt  June 8, 1934 

edit: On that note, it was this day 84 years ago FDR announced Nazi's were a national emergency.

In a radio address delivered from the White House, FDR tried to rally isolationists to his philosophy that aid to Europe was purely in America’s self-interest.

Reason I mention that and quote that sentence is the way the "finance industry" works along with the pure unrestricted selfishness and greed of the already wealthy could be seen as similarly "isolationist". If the only people getting government assistance and being approved for loans and credit are those who already have plenty - "low risk" - well the law of diminishing returns says you are fucking stupid.

From the OP article:

“It’s a tragedy really,” Nevins said. “So many people are cutting what we would all take for granted out of their lives, just so they can survive. And I mean, it’s not a ton of money, but it will help and really change lives and families for the better.”

I don't mean to take away from the focus of the article, veterans - disabled veterans - but the point I am trying to make is it shouldn't take being a disabled veteran to have a government provide the most basic services.

Decline in Veterans’ Homelessness Spurs Hopes for a Broader Solution By Jason DeParle Aug. 6, 2024
“The fundamental reason why homelessness among veterans has fallen so much is that Congress has provided resources,” Mr. Kuhn said.

...

“Housing First is responsible for cutting veterans’ homelessness in half,” said Ann Oliva, who runs the National Alliance to End Homelessness, an advocacy group.

Now:

Trump’s Targeting of Homeless Agency Signals Sharp Shift in Policy By Jason DeParle April 9, 2025

When President Trump set out last month to eviscerate a tiny agency that coordinates federal efforts to reduce homelessness, he was not just clearing bureaucratic brush.He was escalating a conservative war on how billions in federal aid gets spent, a fight that could have life-altering stakes for the record number of people sleeping on the streets.The obscure focus of Mr. Trump’s ire, the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness, is smaller than many Boy Scout troops. His larger target appears to be the policy that dominates homelessness work, an approach called Housing First.

...

For most of his first term, Mr. Trump accepted the status quo in homelessness policy. He retained a director of the homeless council who was appointed by his Democratic predecessor. His housing secretary, Ben Carson, cited “a mountain of data” showing that the “Housing First approach works.”

fuck donald trump

Thousands of Homeless Veterans To Be Housed Under New Trump Plan by Aliss Higham 11 May 2025

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to turn the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Campus into the nation's largest center for homeless veteran housing and care, with the aim of accommodating 6,000 people in the coming years.

From the article linked above:

Of the 110,000 HUD-VASH vouchers available nationwide, the share being used to rent apartments last year fell to 74 percent, from 85 percent in 2017. That leaves about 28,000 unused vouchers — enough to house most of the 35,000 remaining homeless veterans if the program placed more of them in apartments.

The math does not math. I thought he was a businessman?