Author:
Cormack, Lindsey, author.
ImprintSanta Barbara, California : Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, [2018]
Descriptionxiv, 290 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.
Note:No golden era : history and challenges of the Veterans Administration -- Connections among veteran populations, legislators, and groups -- Public opinion : veterans' policy and veterans' preferences -- Legwork : legislative leaders on veterans' policy -- A theory of lip service versus legwork -- Lip service : legislator communications about veterans -- Veterans' education policy : the post-9/11 GI bill -- Veterans' health care and the VA scandal -- Conclusions and directions for the future of veterans' politics and policies.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-283) and index.
Note:Providing a compelling look at veterans' policy, this book describes why the Republican party is considered the party for veterans despite the fact that Congressional Democrats are responsible for a greater number of policy initiatives. The United States is home to 21 million veterans, and Veterans' Affairs is the second-largest federal department, with a budget exceeding $119 billion. Many veterans, however, remain under-served. Republicans are seen as veterans' champions, and they send the majority of Congressional constituent communications on veterans' issues, yet they are lead sponsors on only 37 percent of bills considered by the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee. What accounts for this discrepancy? Drawing on thousands of e-newsletters sent from Congress to constituents, Congress and U.S. Veterans: From the GI Bill to the VA Crisis argues that the distribution of veterans across districts and the Republican Party is based on government spending, which pulls Republican legislators in opposite directions.
