Here's The Simple Reason Congress Hasn't Fixed The VA

[white cloud]

WASHINGTON -- In 2011, a significant chunk of the congressional agenda was taken up by banks and merchants battling over swipe fees -- namely, how much could banks charge Walmart and others to run a debit card. The focus on the penny brawl made no sense from a public policy perspective.

But merchants and banks rained down a staggering sum of money in their fight -- on lobbyists, consultants, campaigns, public relations firms and any other bucket that Washington put out. That flow of dollars determines what gets on Congress' agenda.

The opposite dynamic dictates what doesn't get lawmakers' attention.

Six years earlier, and every year after, the inspector general for the Department of Veterans Affairs warned of serious backlogs and unreliable recordkeeping in the VA's health care system, on which millions of veterans rely. But the congressional calendar was not stacked with meetings with VA officials or auditors. Veterans didn't have the cash to be heard.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/04/va-scandal_n_5446977.html?ir=Politics&utm_campaign=060514&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-politics&utm_content=Title

[valerief]

1. The VA didn't buy time with Congress. How much does a Congressional cost these days? nt

[Blanks]

2. If you have to ask - you can't afford it. eom

[The Wizard]

3. Money is free speech

How much does that free speech cost?

[Wounded Bear]

4. So it really is about the money...

Just not in the way most people think.

Dems: Let's spend the money to do what needs to be done.

Reps: Throwing money at the problem won't fix it.

I guess both sides are right to an extent, but the real money is in the background, as usual, and it doesn't help anybody but those throwing it back and forth.