Pottery Barn Rule Should Apply to Iowa's Senior Senator
Bob Krause, Democratic candidate for the U. S. Senate, says Senator Charles Grassley should be subject to “Pottery Barn Rule” regardingveterans’ benefits. Krause chided Grassley for expressing surprise that 50 to 70 percent of veterans’ health care appeals were unjustifiably denied through the V. A. appeals process. His statement of March 18 follows:
“According to a press release from Grassley's office, dated March 16, 2010, Senator Grassley seems to be shocked that benefits our veterans have earned are being denied them by the Veterans Administration.
“Let’s review the facts: Senator Grassley had a 62 per cent negative voting record with the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) when he was Chair of the Senate Finance Committee. He achieved this ignominy by capping veterans health care funding at the same time the war was ramping up and thousands of new wounded veterans were being added to the Veterans Administration system. The “Pottery Barn Rule” – if you break it, you own it – needs to apply in this case. Since Senator Grassley is largely responsible for this broken system, he needs to own up to his role in creating it.
“The funding cap established by Grassley set the stage for the well publicized national health care crisis for veterans. The Bush Administration’s Secretary of Veterans Affairs reacted to this parsimony by triaging hundreds of thousands of older veterans out of the Veterans Administration system. President Obama has now requested the largest increase in history for funding of veterans’ health care.
“Even so, it does not make up for the years of 'being cheap' when Grassley was in charge of funding. I suspect that the appeals process is still being used to financially triage the system to account for the damage to the system under Grassley’s chairmanship.
“Senator Grassley owns this broken piece of policy from Pottery Barn. This November, I hope every Iowa veteran will remember who is responsible for a broken Veterans Administration benefits system when they go to the polls to cast their vote for someone who will represent them in the U. S. Senate.”
~Bob Krause lives in Fairfield, Iowa with his spouse Vicky Matthiessen-Krause. He is a Democratic candidate to be the junior United States Senator from Iowa. He faces Roxanne Conlin and Tom Fiegen in the Democratic primary on June 8. KrauseforIowa.com
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