Let us set a few things straight. And by straight, I mean honest:

Hatch Voted Against Providing $19B For Military And Veterans Hospitals. Hatch voted against amendment to provide $19 billion for military and veterans hospitals, offset by limiting the dividend and capital-gains tax rates to individuals earning less than $1 million. [HR 4297, Vote #7, Motion rejected 44-53: R 1-52; D 42-1 (ND 38-1, SD 4-0); I 1-0, 2/2/06

Hatch Voted Against An Increase In Funding For Veterans’ Medical Services. Hatch voted against an amendment that increased the discretionary spending limit by $1.5 billion to $874.5 billion to provide an increase in funding for veterans’ medical services. It would be offset by ending certain corporate tax breaks. [SCR 83, Vote 41, Rejected 46-54: R 1-54; D 44-0 (ND 40-0, SD 4-0); I 1-0, 3/14/06]

Hatch Voted Against Making Veterans’ Health Benefits A Mandatory Program. Hatch voted against an amendment to make veterans’ health benefits a mandatory program, spending $104 billion over five years. The funding would have been offset by closing corporate tax loopholes and rolling back the Bush tax cuts for millionaires. [SCR 83, Vote 63, Rejected 46-54: R 2-53; D 43-1 (ND 39-1, SD 4-0); I 1-0, 3/16/06]

Hatch Voted For The Tripling Of Fees For Veterans In The TRICARE Health Care Program. Hatch voted against an amendment to eliminate a tripling of fees for veterans in the TRICARE health care program by raising the discretionary spending limit by approximately $10 billion. The provisions would have been fully offset by eliminating certain corporate tax breaks. [SCR 83, Vote 67, Rejected 46-53: R 2-52; D 43-1 (ND 39-1, SD 4-0); I 1-0, 3/16/06]

Cannon and Bishop Voted Against Ending the Military Families Tax. Cannon and Bishop voted against a motion to the FY 07 Department of Defense Authorization bill that would have ended the Military Families Tax. The Military Families Tax penalizes more than 50,000 survivors in military families, most of whom are widows. Widows lose their military survivor benefits under the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) if they receive VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) benefits because their spouse has died of a service-connected injury. Specifically, the spouse’s SBP benefit is reduced dollar for dollar by the amount of the DIC benefit – a $993 deduction per month. This harms the 53,000 survivors who continue to pay this unfair tax. [HR 5122, vote #144, 5/11/06; Leadership document, “Democrats Are Fighting to End the Military Families Tax,” 5/11/06; HR 5122, Vote #144, 5/11/2006; Failed 202-220; R 6-220; D 195-0; I 1-0]

Cannon and Bishop Voted to Block Attempt to Increase Veterans’ Health Care and Prevent Increased Veterans’ Health Care Fees. Cannon and Bishop voted for a motion to kill an effort to offer three amendments to the Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill. One amendment would provide the $507 million stripped out of the bill by conservatives, not by categorizing them as emergency funds, but by reducing the tax cuts for people making more than $1 million a year by $1,400 or one percent. The second amendment would increase veterans’ health care by $1.82 billion and pay for it by reducing the average tax cut for those with incomes above $1 million a year by about $5,000, leaving them with $109,025. The third amendment would provide an additional $735 million for the Defense Health Program to make unnecessary an increase in veterans’ health fees. The bill currently comes up with the $735 million in funding through an increase in health care user fees. [Leadership Document, “Better and More Affordable Health Care for Veterans and Military Families,” 5/19/06; HR 5385, Vote #173, 5/19/2006; Passed 211-186; R 211-0; D 0-186; I 0-0]

Cannon and Bishop Voted To Allow $507 Million to Be Stripped from Military Construction and Veterans Programs’. Cannon and Bishop voted for the rule governing debate of the Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill that left $507 million worth of projects unprotected from points of order. Rep. Jeb Hensarling lodged points of order against $507 million worth of projects in the bill, thus stripping them out of the legislation. The points of order were only allowed because the rule governing debate of the bill put forward by the GOP leadership did not protect the funds from points of order. [CQ Today, 5/19/06; HR 5385, Vote #174, 5/19/2006; Passed 216-187; R 215-0; D 1-187; I 0-0]