CVA - Shaheen AWOL on VA Reform - Granite Grok

CVA – Shaheen AWOL on VA Reform

For Immediate Release:
Media Contact: Bill Turenne | bturenne@cv4a.org | 703.638.3927

CVA Ad Corrects the Record:

Sen. Shaheen was AWOL on VA Reform
Six-Figure Statewide Buy Exposes Senator’s False Claims of Key Support

Arlington, Va. – Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) today launched a new ad, “AWOL,” to hold Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and her allies accountable for falsely claiming she played a key role in crafting and passing legislation to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Contrary to her campaign’s misleading claims, Sen. Shaheen was not a leader in the push for VA reform legislation and in fact had to be shamed in to co-sponsoring the VA Management Accountability Act, which was eventually a key component of the recent VA reform bill.

Despite claims from her campaign and an independent group supporting her, Sen. Shaheen did not craft a portion of the recent VA reform bill that allowed certain veterans to receive private healthcare from outside the VA – that provision in fact developed by Senator McCain, Senator Coburn, and Senator Burr.  Even worse, Senator Shaheen refused to meet with veterans pushing reform legislation before the national scandal broke and wouldn’t co-sponsor the VA Management Accountability Act until after CVA ran ads in New Hampshire urging her to support it.

“Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s attempts to take credit for the passage of VA reform is a shameless distortion of the truth that CVA will not allow to go unchallenged,” said Pete Hegseth, CEO of CVA. “The truth is that Senator Shaheen had to be essentially dragged into co-sponsoring VA accountability legislation after the scandal broke and a CVA ad exposed her lack of support for it. The Shaheen campaign’s claims that the Senator led the push for this bill is another example of why people are disgusted with Washington. CVA will continue to serve as a watchdog to both the VA and officials like Shaheen who sat on the sidelines when it counted.” 

 “AWOL”

Click here to watch the ad.

 

“I’m particularly disappointed in Senator Shaheen trying to take credit for these VA reforms because I was in Washington for CVA’s ‘Vets on the Hill’ when she refused our meeting request,” said New Hampshire veteran and former Mayor of Somersworth, Matt Spencer. “I thought for sure Senator Shaheen would give us the early bipartisan support we needed because she’s stood with New Hampshire veterans in the past, but in this case, she let me – and all New Hampshire vets – down.”

The six-figure, statewide advertising buy, including both mail and digital ads, is the latest in CVA’s VA Accountability Project series—a multi-media and grassroots push to encourage constituents to thank their elected officials who have stood up and fought for true VA reform—as well as hold to account those legislators who failed to act when veterans needed them the most. In the ad, CVA tells viewers to reach out to Sen. Shaheen’s office and ask her to stop distorting the truth, and instead focus on fixing the VA.

 

###

To schedule a TV interview with Pete Hegseth, CEO of CVA, or other CVA experts, please email booking@guestbooker.com. For other media inquiries, contact Bill Turenne at 703.638.3927 or email bturenne@cv4a.org.

Concerned Veterans for America is a non-partisan, non-profit, 501(c)(4) organization that advocates for policies that will preserve the freedom and liberty we and our families so proudly fought and sacrificed to defend.

>