Posted on 11/29/2010 11:33:34 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
WESLACO, Nov. 29 - U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz can depart Congress a hero to South Texas veterans by securing passage of legislation that would commit the VA to building a veterans’ hospital in the region.
That’s the view of the American GI Forum of Texas, which has made the VA hospital issue one of its top legislative priorities. After 28 years in Congress, Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, was defeated in the Nov. 2 general election by Republican Blake Farenthold, also of Corpus Christi. Ortiz leaves office in the New Year.
“After a long and distinguished career in Congress, Representative Ortiz can leave Congress in a blaze of glory,” said Lydia Caballero, vice commander of the Dr. Hector P. Garcia American GI Forum Organization of Texas.
“The lame duck session of Congress is about to start and Congressman Ortiz can work to attach his VA hospital bill to any passing bill he can find. One last, super human effort from our great congressman and we can finally secure the VA hospital South Texas veterans so desperately need and deserve.”
Caballero said she had been in discussions with Ortiz’s office about the veteran congressman taking on this mission. She said she has also spoken with U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, whose support would also be necessary.
Asked how appreciative South Texas veterans would be if Ortiz was to secure a VA hospital for the region in last few days in Congress, Caballero said: “We would be overjoyed. He would be our hero. We would demand the VA names the new hospital after Congressman Ortiz. He is an Army veteran himself and he will always command our respect. He has fought for us for so many years.”
Josemaria Vasquez, Rio Grande Valley regional commander for the Dr. Hector P. Garcia American GI Forum Organization of Texas, agreed. “Congressman Ortiz would be standing tall with all of South Texas, not just with veterans and their families,” Vasquez said.
Ortiz has been filing legislation to secure a VA hospital for South Texas for decades. Each session of Congress his legislation is heard in the House Committee on Veterans Affairs but never makes it to the floor of the House.
Caballero believes there will be a lot of sympathy towards Ortiz from his House colleagues. After all, she said, he only lost his seat by the narrowest of margins. Caballero said Ortiz can use the last of his political capital on an issue that is near and dear to his heart, helping South Texas veterans secure the health care services they need.
“Congressman Ortiz was able to get former President Bill Clinton to the Valley during the general election campaign. He has the contacts. We think he can use his political capital to secure the veterans’ hospital we need and he has pushed for all these years,” Caballero said.
Sen. Cornyn has, in recent years, filed a companion bill to Ortiz’s to land a VA hospital for the Valley. In September, Cornyn submitted an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2011 Defense Authorization Bill that would have required the U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs to carry out the construction of a VA hospital in “Far South Texas.” The Democratic leadership in the Senate refused to accept the amendment.
If Ortiz was able to attach his legislation to a House bill, Caballero said she is confident Cornyn could steer the legislation through the Senate and onto President Obama’s desk for a signature. Caballero pointed out that during the 2008 presidential campaign Obama more than once said he fully supports the push to secure a VA hospital for South Texas.
The VA has long resisted efforts to build a veterans’ hospital built in the Valley. The agency argues there are not enough veterans in the region to warrant a hospital. Local veterans’ groups dispute this.
Instead of constructing a hospital, the VA has signed contracts with private hospitals in the Valley. For those complicated operations the local hospitals cannot perform, veterans are sent to the Audie Murphy VA hospital in north San Antonio.
The VA has also been moving forward with plans to build a new $40 million Ambulatory Surgery and Specialty Outpatient Center in Harlingen. It is due to open early next year.
The new center will have doctors who specialize in oncology, pulmonology, cardiology, orthopedics, ear, nose and throat, urology, dermatology, and general surgery. However, it will not have an emergency room or inpatient beds, the two ingredients necessary to turn the facility into a hospital.
The new Ambulatory Surgery and Specialty Outpatient Center will be the flagship facility of the recently activated VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System. In early October, Ortiz joined Congressmen Rubén Hinojosa, D-Mercedes, and Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, in a tour of the new facility. The three congressmen said the new center is Phase I and upgrading it into a hospital would be Phase II.
“Phase II is to go after the money, go after the resources, so we can add the emergency room, so we can add the inpatient beds and, therefore, it becomes the reality, the dream of what we have been fighting for all this time, a hospital in South Texas,” Cuellar said, to loud applause from Valley veterans.
A reporter asked the three congressmen how long it would take to complete Phase II. Hinojosa answered the question.
“President Obama was here as a candidate and he met with the veterans and he gave his word that he was going to support the veterans’ hospital. We are of the opinion that the legislation which bears the name of Congressman Ortiz and the support of all of the delegation in Texas will be honored. It just takes a little bit of time to be able to work it through the system. It will happen,” Hinojosa said.
“We can’t give you a specific date but we are going to meet with the President again and we are going to remind him that we have Phase I done and we asking for his assistance to get Phase II completed.”
Ortiz agreed, paying tribute to the veterans who had marched from the Valley to San Antonio in order to raise awareness of the lack of health care services in the region. Caballero helped organize the first of these marches, in October 2005.
“We appreciate the marches that have taken place from here all the way to San Antonio because you have brought awareness to the people in Washington,” Ortiz said. “This is going to be a hospital. We are not going to give up. This is one more step.”
[Enjoy the infamous "SPAM" skit here in RealAudio.]
I'm good with that. Monuments and statues...OK. Parks and Natural Preserves...maybe.
But County, State and Federal Building...NO.
Just call them what they are.
This VA hospital is in the valley and Audie Murphy hospital is in San Antonio. For people who do not live in Texas and do not realize how big it is, it’s 250 miles between them. If the hospital was placed in either Alice or Corpus Christi it would have been only 112 miles to serve the valley and 130 miles to serve those below San Antonio.
Next, the farce: You would think that a VA hospital would be placed in a common location, an area that would provide services from a central location radiating services from a central location to those who live in a circular pattern around it. In that manner, veterans would not have to travel long distances to acquire services.
Did Mr. Wonderful do that. Hell no! He put it in the valley where it is only convenient to his most favored (and populous) Democratic voting base...Hispanics in the valley.
Why didn’t he put it in Corpus Christi since it is more centrally located? I’ll let you guess at that.
I have personally heard Blake Farenthold say that he doesn't want anything name after himself so long as he is alive. Texas used to have a law making it illegal for any public work or building to be named after a living person.
But no matter where it's placed, it will be an inconvenient location to someone. The VA hospital will be staffed with physicians who don't have to be licensed to practice in the state in which it is located. Why not privatize all the VA hospitals and give health care vouchers to veterans that they can use to obtain health care in their own communities rather than having to drive to the nearest VA hospital? Of course the congressional DemocRATS wouldn't like that idea, because they wouldn't have any need to build VA hospitals named after the local member of Congress.
I guess he figured it wouldn't be beneficial for his son's future run for Congress for it to be located in Robstown. Ortiz has moved his residence to the Rio Grande Valley. It's quite likely in the the redistricting in 2011 that Cameron and Willacy counties will be split off from 27th district to form a new congressional district in the valley.
Quite frankly, the people in the valley have no great love of Ortiz. He's just a carpet bagger from Robstown. They would probably prefer to elect a local politician to represent them in Congress.
As a Vet, I think it's an excellent idea...I'm forwarding it to the incoming chairman of the 'whichever' committee the idea belongs.
I propose a law banning naming builidings after anyone. NO?? Not even as the Audie Murphy VA Hospital?
Valle ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Maybe it makes more sense in Spanish.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.