GOP blocks body armor for troops

In the legislature's rush to adjournment, Republicans in both houses managed to prevent passage of a bill to have the state provide high-quality, up-to-date body armor for Wisconsin Guard and Reserve members called up to active combat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In the State Senate, a party-line vote declared an amendment by State Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, out of order when he tried to attach it to Assembly Bill 382, to requires the state to display POW flags at state rest areas.

Hansen took that step after the Senate's GOP leadership abruptly cancelled a scheduled hearing for his original bill, Senate Bill 609, without any explanation.

Over in the other house, the Assembly Republican leadership decided to table a bill (SB-613)it had been pushing, to transfer $16-million from the King Veterans Home to the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, after State Rep. Tom Nelson, D-Kaukauna, the Assembly sponsor of the body armor bill, proposed it as an amendment to the transfer bill. SB-613 had passed the Senate 32-1, but the Assembly GOP decided to let it sit rather than deal with Nelson's amendment. It was tabled on a voice vote, so there is no embarrassing roll call for the Rs.

"It is unfortunate that we can find time to pass legislation for any number of special interest groups, but we can't find the will to protect the most special interest group of all -- the brave men and women who have voluntarily chosen to put their lives on the line for us. It's a sad way to end this session," said Hansen.

"We could have chosen to protect our Guard and Reserve today. Unfortunately, the majority chose to hide behind a technicality," Hansen said.

A recent Pentagon report found that 80% of all Marine casualties could have been prevented had they been outfitted with high-quality, up-to-date body armor.

It is hard to understand why Wisconsin Republicans, who wave the flag and beat the drums to support the war and the troops, turned their backs on the troops on a bill that could actually save their lives.

Earlier post.

UPDATE: If I had seen this earlier, I could have saved a lot of unnecessary writing. Carrie Lynch calls it John Gard's death tax.