Senate to pass first vets bill of 2015 honoring Texas sniper Clay Hunt

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The Chicken Hawks return to wave their flag and look like they support the bill and veterans again. Oh but it cost to much!!!

With the recent box office success of the film "American Sniper," featuring the late Navy Seal Chris Kyle, the national conversation about veterans' issues has been elevated significantly. The film has stimulated broad discussion in the military and veterans' communities, in the media and in communities across the country regarding the needs of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans after returning from war. The film features the multiple combat tours of Kyle from the perspective of a U.S. military sniper's direct on-the-ground wartime experience.
The U.S. Senate this week is scheduled to vote and pass the first veterans' legislation in the new 114th Congress, which honors another combat-veteran sniper from Texas, Clay Hunt. The timing of this vote to honor Hunt is fitting, as the nation refocuses on the needs of Iraq War veterans after 10 years of conflict amid public discourse surrounding the nation's reaction to the film.
http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/defense/231404-senate-to-pass-first-vets-bill-of-2015-honoring-texas-sniper-clay

This is the same bill that Coburn blocked in Dec 2014.

Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, has successfully blocked a vote on a veterans’ suicide bill, leaving it to backers to re-introduce the legislation next year.

Coburn, who is leaving the Senate, said he opposed the $22 million Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act because it duplicated existing Department of Veterans Affairs programs and was not paid for by offsets elsewhere in the budget.

Coburn’s move was immediately blasted by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, whose founder and chief executive officer said the delay caused by Coburn will translate into veterans’ deaths.

“It’s sickening to think another 22 veterans will die by suicide today and every day we fail to expand mental health care for our vets,” said Paul Rieckhoff in a statement. VA figures state that, on average, 22 veterans a day commit suicide.

http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2014/12/17/veteran-suicide/

Tom Coburn Blocks Bill On Veterans' Suicide Prevention
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/15/tom-coburn-veterans-suicide_n_6330582.html

Clay Hunt Veteran Suicide Bill Blocked in Senate by Coburn
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http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=846_1418840474