Bernie Sanders an antiwar, pro-veteran senator
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Bernie Sanders, in his first bid for Congress in 1971, ran as a member of the nonviolent, socialist Liberty Union Party. He has maintained his antiwar stance since, first as a member of the House, then the Senate.
Now, in one of the most unlikely turns in his career, Sanders is chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, casting himself as a champion of those who fought in wars he battled to prevent.
Sanders’s role comes at an important juncture for the Department of Veterans Affairs: A new generation of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan is straining resources, while aging Vietnam veterans seek long-delayed compensation for exposure to Agent Orange, the chemical defoliant sprayed by US forces. The combination has led to a backlog of hundreds of thousands of claims, prompting outcries from veterans groups and demands that Congress step in to fix what many say is a broken system.
As a result, the Vermont independent has spent much of his time since becoming chairman in January working to fix the problems, especially the claims backlog, which the Obama administration has pledged to overcome by 2015.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/09/23/senator-bernie-sanders-antiwar-agitator-champion-veterans/2AmUdVLEHxfYAD7NlGf32L/story.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
