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(Daily Signal)—The Biden administration is under scrutiny for prioritizing medical care for noncitizens and illegal immigrants at the expense of service members and veterans. Inadequate care, restricted access to medical treatments, a complex filing process, and lengthy wait times are fueling the ongoing veteran suicide crisis. These issues impact military readiness and recruitment, evident in the collapse of recruiting numbers over the last four years in America’s military branches.
Senate Veterans Affairs Committee member Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, R-Ill., have raised concerns about redirecting resources from wounded warriors and veterans to noncitizens.
Since 2021, over 7 million illegal aliens have been encountered at America’s borders, both at official ports of entry and between them. This overwhelming volume has strained federal agencies, requiring resources from other agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs to help cover costs and/or workload.
VA Deputy Assistant Secretary Terrence Hayes claimed, “At no time are any VA health care professionals or VA funds used for this purpose.” While this statement may be true, Hayes carefully chose his words to sidestep the question by specifically mentioning health care professionals. While the administration denies diverting funds directly from the Department of Veterans Affairs, the reality is VA administrative personnel are being diverted to process noncitizen claims and ensuring payments for noncitizen care instead of addressing long-standing problems that lower the quality of care for veterans.
Despite improving wait times and mental health care access, veterans still wait almost three weeks to see a medical professional. This shortage affects VA processing times and appointment availability. Over 300,000 claims are backlogged, and more than 950,000 claims are pending for service members and veterans awaiting their final benefits package.
Following the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, the Biden administration directed the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate efforts across the federal government and redirect resources to support vulnerable Afghans under Operation Allies Welcome. These policy changes come when veteran care facilities like Walter Reed National Military Medical Center are understaffed and overburdened.
As part of this directive, a medical ward and staff at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center were reallocated to treat Afghan nationals evacuated to the United States. Service members were moved to other areas throughout the hospital for recovery. While no wounded warrior went without care, our nation’s heroes are being pushed aside to prioritize individuals from other countries.
Despite improving wait times and mental healthcare access, veterans still wait almost three weeks to see a medical professional. This shortage affects VA processing times and appointment availability. Over 300,000 claims are backlogged, and more than 950,000 claims are pending for servicemembers and veterans awaiting their final benefits package. The administration denies diverting funds directly from the Department of Veterans Affairs, but personnel within the VA system are tasked with processing claims and ensuring payments for noncitizen care.
For over 20 years, the veteran community has faced a suicide epidemic due to an inadequate understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder, a lack of access to mental health care, and limited resources—with no signs of improvement. From 2001 to 2021, the United States lost 133,857 veterans to suicide, with no year reporting fewer than 6,000 successful attempts. Veterans are 1.6 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population, making it the second leading cause of death among veterans under 45.
But this is only half the story, as an additional 20 veterans die every day from non-suicidal self-inflicted injuries—with the most common being overdose deaths. Factoring in these self-inflicted deaths over the same period reveals the true scale of the VA’s failures in addressing suicide within the veteran community.
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Moreover, failing to fulfill our nation’s promises reduces the likelihood that people will choose a military career and that service members and veterans will recommend military service to others, making this a national security issue affecting U.S. military readiness and recruitment.
Today’s Army recruits, over 80% coming from military families, see a direct link between the government’s failure to follow through for veterans and its impact on their own families. Benefits rank as the second-highest reason for joining the service (26%). Since 2014, the Army has not met its recruitment goals. In fiscal year 2023, the military services collectively missed recruiting goals by approximately 41,000 recruits, despite lowering those goals as well as their recruitment standards.
Bureaucracy, understaffing, and poor accountability at the VA already meant fewer veterans received necessary care. Now, add the fact that we are prioritizing the health care of noncitizens over them, and we are leaving our nation’s heroes unsupported. Sadly, in many cases, these individuals resort to suicide.
If resources are diverted from veterans under the Biden administration, Congress must reaffirm its commitment to supporting veterans by supporting the “No VA Resources for Illegal Aliens Act” and exercising its power of the purse. Anything less would fail those who bravely served our nation. Without accountability on this issue, veterans will continue to take their own lives, military families will opt out of service, and the all-volunteer force will be at risk of disintegration—along with our national security.
Afghan Who Plotted Election Day Terrorism Was a CIA Contractor
by Headline USA
It looks like the FBI may have entrapped a former CIA contractor in a plot to commit a terrorist attack on Election Day. The Justice Department announced this week the arrest of Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, a 27-year-old Afghan man, alleging that he was planning an Election…
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Genetically Modified Crops: A Growing Threat to Health and the Environment
by Olivia Cook
(Natural News)—Bioengineered foods and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are commonly confused with each other, but they have different meanings. “Bioengineered” describes food and products that are enhanced with scientific techniques to add particular traits. In contrast, “GMOs” involve changing the genetic makeup of animals, plants or microbes in ways that…
United Nations Expands into “UN 2.0” to Turbocharge Sustainable Development Goals
by Liberty Sentinel
The United Nations (UN) has not gone rogue, argues journalist Alex Newman on American Family Radio’s show, At the Core , but they have always existed to achieve one goal: one-world government. This goal is not only un-American, but it is unbiblical. Newman and AFR host Walker Wildmon also dive…
Congressman Matt Gaetz Says Epstein Was Killed as Part of a ‘Foreign Operation’
by Modernity
Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz says sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was killed as part of a ‘foreign operation’, but refused to divulge which government was responsible for his death. Gaetz made the comments during an appearance on Benny Johnson’s show. In August 2019, Epstein was found unresponsive in his jail cell…
DOJ Takes Aim at Breaking Up Google
by Infowars
On Tuesday, the United States announced potential plans to request a court mandate directing Alphabet Inc to divest significant segments of its operations, including its Chrome browser and Android operating system. This move aims to dismantle what is described as an illegal monopoly held by Google in the online search…
Is Gavin Newsom Hoping that Kamala Harris Loses the Election?
by American Greatness
Two minutes of airtime during the Democrat National Convention in Chicago gave California Governor Gavin Newsom his latest opportunity to build his national stature. As part of the announcement of Kamala Harris’s clinching of the Democrat presidential nomination during a symbolic roll call of state delegates, Newsom portrayed Harris as…
Is It Time for a Nationwide Ban on Fluoridated Water?
by Natural News
Do community leaders reserve the right to mass medicate every person in their community using the water supply as a vector? What if that medicine was eventually exposed as a POISON decades later? What if that POISON was damaging the brains of children and stunting the cognitive development of the…
GOP Rep. Luna: We Need to End FEMA Migrant Spending and Boost Disaster Relief Funding
by Breitbart
On Wednesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Ingraham Angle,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) stated that FEMA’s funding for migrants should be zeroed out at once and that while there is FEMA money for hurricane victims, we should also boost emergency relief funding “that will go directly to Americans…
Earth’s Continental Crust in America and China Is Breaking Apart
by End Times Headlines
Researchers, who have been studying the dramatic changes in the continental configurations of Earth over the past billions of years, have made a stunning observation: that the oldest continental crusts are disintegrating. According to experts, the Earth’s crust went through expansion and contraction and has transformed not only its positions…
“Line All Those Guys Up and Shoot Them”: Professor Says Men Who Don’t Support Female Candidates Should Be Massacred
by Daily Caller
(Jaryn Crouson, DCNF)—A professor at the University of Kansas (UK) told a class that men who would not vote for a female president should be lined up and shot, according to a video posted on X Wednesday. The university confirmed the professor is employed at UK and made the comment…