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REPUBLICANS CHOOSE SEN. RICHARD BURR TO REPLACE
CRAIG ON VETS' COMMITTEE -- Burr, with a poor
voting
record on veterans' issues, will bring "more of
the
same" to temporary Ranking Member position.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
The Republicans have spoken...and Sen. Richard
Burr (R-NC) is the temporary replacement for Sen. Larry Craig as Ranking
Minority Member on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Burr's assignment is temporary because Craig
has not officially resigned from the Senate. He has, however,
resigned his Committee seats...which is how we end up with Burr.
Craig is still fighting his Bathroom Bust in
Minnesota and feels he can withdraw his guilty plea. Craig assumes
the Republicans will then take him back and he won't have to resign.
I don't see that happening.
Burr, already a Member of the Committee, has a terrible voting record on veterans'
issues...so, we can just expect "more of the same" from him. Here
is a look at how his votes have stacked up the last few years.
This information comes from
www.vote-smart.org . The
specific page to find this information is here...
http://www.vote-
smart.org/issue_rating.php?type=ca
tegory&search_1=Veterans%2BIssues
2003 AMVETS RATING -- 50%
2004 DAV RATING -- 0%
2004 REA RATING -- 17%
2005 DAV RATING -- 33%
2006 DAV RATING -- 60%
2006 IAVA RATING -- "F" (IAVA
GIVES LETTER GRADES) |
For more about Sen. Richard Burr, use the VA Watchdog search
engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/
sessearch.php?q=richar
d+burr&op=ph
Republican press release here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/
07/scva07/scva091107-1.htm
Press release below:
-------------------------
REPUBLICAN PRESS RELEASE
September 11, 2007
SEN. RICHARD BURR CHOSEN TO LEAD REPUBLICANS ON
VETERANS’ AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Media contact: Jeff Schrade (202)224-9093
(Washington, DC) - Republican members of the U.S. Senate Committee on
Veterans' Affairs today announced they have chosen Senator Richard Burr
(R-North Carolina) as the temporary ranking member of the committee.
Burr will temporarily replace Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho).
"I appreciate the confidence my Senate colleagues have expressed Sen.
Richard Burrin me today. There are almost twenty-five million veterans
living in the United States and over 750,000 live in my home state of
North Carolina. I am committed to ensuring that veterans across the
state and the country receive the best health care and services we can
provide," Burr said.
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) offers a wide variety of
programs and services for the nation's 24.7 million veterans. The
majority of VA benefits focus on health care, including mental health,
disability, and long-term care services. VA operates major medical
centers in Asheville, Durham, Fayetteville and Salisbury. These medical
centers served more than 1,294,000 outpatient visits and had 16,568
inpatient admissions in 2005. The VA also operates community-based
outpatient clinics in Charlotte, Durham, Greenville, Raleigh, Morehead
City, Wilmington and Jacksonville and an outpatient clinic in
Winston-Salem.
The North Carolina Republican has placed special focus this year on
improving life for the nation's estimated 200,000 homeless veterans. In
June his Services to Prevent Veterans Homelessness Act of 2007 (S. 874),
was approved by the Committee on Veterans' Affairs as part of the
Veterans Traumatic Brain Injury and Programs Improvement Act of 2007 (S.
1233). Burr's legislation will increase veterans' access to assistance
for housing, physical and mental health services, health insurance, as
well as vocational and financial counseling.
Burr is also active on veterans' health issues. A health care
policymaker for over a decade, Burr has most recently been vocal on
traumatic brain injury, Department of Defense and VA sharing of
electronic medical records and the efficiency of the VA health system,
especially for veterans in rural areas.
Burr has served on the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs since he
was sworn in as a U.S. Senator on January 3, 2005. He was first elected
to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 and served five terms
before be elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004.
In addition to his new leadership position on the Veterans' Affairs
Committee, Burr serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee; the Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee; the Energy and Natural
Resources Committee; and the Indian Affairs Committee.
The son of a minister, Richard and his family moved to Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, when he was a young child. After graduating from Wake
Forest University he rose to a senior sales management position with a
wholesale commercial products company before running for Congress.
Senator Burr and his wife, Brooke, have two sons in college.
-------------------------
Larry Scott --
