As government administrative screwups go, this is far from the most egregious, and it looks like they're already close to resolving it. And of course, given the recent history of the VA, this doesn't even come close to the bottom of their own list. But it still seems like the sort of thing that any small business of middling competence would easily avoid simply by using fairly basic quality controls.
The government reportedly withheld $2.4 million by mistake from disability compensation checks for 12,000 veterans this month.
According to USA Today, the Department of Veterans Affairs apologized Wednesday for the error and has already provided the funds to the Department of Treasury to pay back all the money, either through direct deposit or checks in the mail. "The matter has been resolved."
The VA said the veterans should all get their payments by no later than this week.
The monthly compensation checks are for service-related physical or emotional disabilities and can range from $130 to about $3,000, according to USA Today.
The error affected veterans participating in repayment plans that withhold part of their disability payments to cover a debt they owe the agency. However, the error reportedly resulted in the VA keeping the compensation check and sending the veterans only the amount they would have repaid the VA.
Remember, the goal of the Democratic Party is to get a majority of Americans dependent on government in one form or another, thus giving them a built-in incentive to always vote for the party of government. The Republicans will take away your benefits! Get 51 percent or more of the nation knee-jerking to that hammer tap, and the Democrats can rule uninterrupted until the collapse of the republic in a decade or two.
So if you're planning to join the dependent class, get ready for more of this. Once you give up your autonomy, you're helplessly at the mercy of the machinery to decides its own level of competency, of urgency and of compassion for whoever is at the other end waiting. In this case (largely owed, I'm sure, to the public pressure they've been under lately), the VA responded in fairly efficient manner. When it's your check? Your doctor visit reimbursement? Good luck.
Now granted, veterans absolutely earned the benefits and have every right to get them. Yet that doesn't seem to make the government any m more competent in delivering them. What do you think will happen to the dependent class whose only claim to the benefits is that a politician promised them in exchange for their votes?
I'd go earn the money if I were you. But that's me. That's why I don't vote for Democrats.
