Congress appears ready to slash funding for the research and treatment of brain injuries caused by bomb blasts, an injury that military scientists describe as a signature wound of the Iraq war.Disgraceful. It’s one thing to talk the macho talk about patriotism and supporting the troops, it’s another thing to ACTUALLY support the troops, especially when you're actually in a position to do something, instead of using them as a political tool.
House and Senate versions of the 2007 Defense appropriation bill contain $7 million for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center — half of what the center received last fiscal year.
Proponents of increased funding say they are shocked to see cuts in the treatment of bomb blast injuries in the midst of a war.
The center requested $19 million. The Defense Appropriation budget is $19 BILLION. Yes, they wanted a whopping .2 percent of the budget, and these idiots just couldn't do it.
Honestly, they would have loved to have funded it, but there were just so many priorities," says Jenny Manley, spokeswoman for the Senate Appropriations Committee. "They didn't have any flexibility in such a tight fiscal year."
Riiiiight. Suddenly they've become fiscally responsible drunken sailors.
So Republican priorities: repeal estate tax, tax cuts for the rich, ban gay marriage, oppose stem cell research, send troops to war and then forget about them.
It’s a wonderful world we live in.
That's just sad...
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