Open Letter to Representative Hultgren #3

Dear Congressman Hultgren:

We found the following quote on your Congressional website: “I have always been an admirer and supporter of our Nation’s veterans and their issues are of great importance to me.  I will be an advocate for our servicemen and women, as well as their families, and make certain they have the resources they need not only when they are serving our country but when they return home.” 

We found it very interesting.  Interesting not because you have lived up to it, but interesting in that you glibly make these promises, and yet follow your party in taking legislative actions that harm the welfare of our men and women in uniform and their families. Take for example Supplemental Nutrition Assistance or SNAP. 

Your party stripped $40 billion from SNAP in 2013.  Ignoring for the moment the many other Americans are adversely impacted by this action, the Department of Defense estimates that 5,000 active duty military families would lose benefits.  That’s probably only the beginning.  Since $99 million in food stamps were cashed at military commissaries last year, and $53 million through June of this year, by “military families, disabled vets and others with military identification” clearly the vulnerable group your party has turned its back on is much larger.  Many of us are having some trouble understanding how this action, as you put it, “…makes certain they have the resources they need….” 

It doesn’t take much imagination to project what these actions will mean.  Soldiers worried about whether their families have enough to eat while dealing with a dangerous enemy.  Families who are already sacrificing significantly to enable a father or mother to serve their country adding hunger to those sacrifices.  Veterans who have served honorably having difficulty finding new jobs no longer able to get help making sure their kids are fed properly.  And why? Because as Congressman Cantor’s spokesperson put it: "House Republicans are working to restore the integrity of this safety-net program and protect it for those who need it most."  How very interesting: All of your supposed support for servicemen and women evaporates because House Republican leadership thinks there are some gaming the system.  Do they pursue corporate waste and abuse with the same zeal?  Or is it easier to hold the disadvantaged accountable?

Congressman, when are your words going to match your actions?  The people of Illinois are tired of easily broken “piecrust promises.”  Saying one thing and doing another is not what the people of your district, or this country deserve.  It seems that blind allegiance to the philosophy of your party trumps your words about helping our veterans.  It’s not hard to think we can do better.