Murray fights for veterans medical services

AS THE VIETNAM WAR raged, a Washington State University student chose to do an internship in the psych ward of the Seattle VA hospital, behind whose locked doors were warehoused those bearing the war's invisible wounds.

Getting to the hospital, she traveled through streets often crowded with anti-war demonstrators. Vietnam exposed, for a time, a huge disconnect between those fighting and those protesting.

"Things happen in your life that you draw on later," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., a member of the Senate leadership and one of Congress' foremost veterans advocates.

A generation later, in Iraq, the country is engaged in another unpopular war ... with a different kind of disconnect.

Murray has fought to expand medical services for veterans and, along with fellow war critics (including Virginia Sen. Jim Webb), has championed Congress' recently enacted GI Bill of Rights.

The Bush administration launched the Iraq war, but has failed to put up money to support needed, promised services and has sought to shut down such facilities as the veterans hospital in Walla Walla.

"I've wondered and come to a pretty rough conclusion: This administration wanted us to see the glory of war, and not the cost of war," Murray said in a conversation Wednesday.

Even Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., for seven years a Vietnam POW, voted in 2005-06 against adding $430 million to the VA budget for outpatients and inpatient health care. He also opposed spending an additional $500 million a year for mental health services for veterans.

The tug of war over veterans health offers lessons about how American government works, and doesn't work.

Lesson No. 1: Nothing is a scandal until Washington, D.C., says it's a scandal. In 2004, nearly 500 people showed up for a Senate hearing to protest the proposed closure of the VA hospital in Walla Walla.

Veterans under the hospital's care explained that they would need to drive more than 200 miles to Seattle or Portland to receive similar treatment. The hospital serves a 63,000-square-mile area in three states.

But it wasn't until a devastating exposé of conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center appeared last year in The Washington Post that the nation's "high press" took notice of neglect. Murray found herself a guest on "60 Minutes."

Lesson No. 2: Don't believe any official promise until you see money in the president's budget to pay for it.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson did a 2006 tour of Washington for Republican congressional candidates. Murray was snubbed, learning of the visit only upon seeing a GOP sign on Whidbey Island.

Seeking to bolster Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Nicholson dropped in on Walla Walla and promised a new clinic for the vets hospital.

"The clinic? The president has said it's on his priority list, but he has not put one dollar into his budget proposals," Murray said. "It has been left to us to build the new clinic that my friend, Mr. Nicholson, announced."

Lesson No. 3: The federal government holds few safe pastures to put political hacks.

We learned, in the disastrous aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, that it DOES matter who is running the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Nicholson is typical of the type of appointment to the low-profile VA Cabinet post. He was chairman of the Republican National Committee in the 2000 election and subsequently U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.

As well, the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee has been a pasture for underachieving or rookie lawmakers.

Its chairman under Republican control was Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho. The current chairman is low-profile, 83-year-old Hawaii Sen. Daniel Akaka.

Murray, a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, surprised colleagues when she chose to join the panel during her second term.

The 44th president, once elected in November, will pick a new secretary of veterans affairs. "Barack (Obama) serves with me on the Senate veterans committee," Murray said. "My bottom line is that we get a secretary who'll fight for vets, not just a politician."

Some turnaround has taken place in veterans care.

Nationally, after White House denials, the Department of Veterans Affairs admitted that it was billions of dollars short in money needed for care of veterans of the Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam wars. A Wounded Warriors Act will make it easier for vets to get benefits.

The 2004 Walla Walla hearing, with tales of long distances traveled, had a powerful impact on Murray.

A new VA clinic is under construction in Mount Vernon. The recently completed Wenatchee VA Medical Center has just been named for Bud Link, a local VFW leader who campaigned for its construction. The Spokane VA hospital is under dynamic new leadership.

What next? Murray has joined with two Republican colleagues, Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, in pressing for legislation to ensure better care for female veterans.

"I was just up in Bow today," Murray said. "An Iraqi veteran came up, asking to talk about issues she is facing. It's so typical. They serve their country, come home and join a waiting list."