The April 2014 Veterans Health Administration scandal, catalyzed by a whistleblower’s claims that at least 40 veterans died while waiting for medical appointments in a Phoenix hospital, ostensibly shocked the American public. A statement released by the House Republicans after the explosion of media coverage about the corruption plaguing the veteran health system reads: “For generations, we’ve made a commitment to veterans — those who bravely served to protect our way of life.” The article later states that their “efforts will not end until these heroes [receive] the quality, timely care they’ve earned and deserve.” Despite the platitudes spouted by politicians that laud veteran services to our country, the conditions publicized by the investigation show that rhetoric fails to translate into adequate policies for veteran care.

Despite the frequency with which politicians proclaim their devotion to veterans, the actual legislation to substantiate their professed gratitude is lacking. The gradual degradation of the services offered to veterans becomes clearer when considering the actions taken by current politicians. These actions demonstrate that sincere efforts toward repairing veterans’ services only occur directly after scandals in vain attempts to appease the public — that is, until the system’s disastrous state is forgotten.

When the allegations of the deaths first surfaced, legislators regarded the inability of the established programs to meet the needs of veterans as a surprise. They accordingly demanded change in emotionally charged speeches as more failures of the VA reached the public. However, despite the absence of information specifically detailing the internal cover-ups and system inefficiency, CNN and other media outlets reported the long delays for hospital appointments as early as January.

A similar course of events occurred in 2007 when the Washington Post detailed the unsanitary conditions and consistent neglect that veterans faced at Walter Reed Army Medical Center while awaiting treatment. While articles brought the hospital and its management system into the spotlight, the online news source Salon had been reporting on the inadequacy of the care offered at Walter Reed for two years. Military officials and politicians said they knew nothing of the system’s internal corruption, too.

The present infrastructure and efforts to improve veteran care seem particularly deficient given that the two scandals occurred close together in time. This indicates that genuine efforts to rectify the failures disclosed in 2007 never occurred. Our elected leaders’ words are paradoxical when considering the structural failures of VA services.

One of the most telling signs of politicians’ unwillingness to legitimately improve veteran care occurred less than two months before the revelations about the Phoenix hospital. In February, Senate Republicans blocked the passage of a bill that would have allocated $24 billion for the expansion of veteran health and education systems. It also called for the creation of new medical facilities to provide treatment for the over million soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Republicans justified their rejection of the bill by saying it would compromise the budget. Ironically, the GOP was unconcerned with money when they howled for the War on Terror — the same war that resulted in millions of wounded soldiers who would ultimately need veteran care.

Republican legislators not only rejected bills that would improve veterans’ programs, but also proposed ones that would cut funding to them. In 2011, Rep. Michele Bachmann proposed a $. billion cut to veteran’s benefits. A year later, Republicans refused to pass a bill that sought to restore national and state parks while providing veterans with jobs. Last year, the House GOP passed a bill that ended food assistance for 170,000 veterans among other provisions. Republicans would likely follow suit in the future.

When former secretary of the VA Eric Shinseki resigned as a result of the scandal, he left behind a program that sought to end the homelessness of all veterans by the end of 2015. While this goal now seems unrealistic — about 50,000 veterans still remain homeless — the efforts initiated by Shinseki have housed 51,000 veterans thus far.

Still, obstacles remain. The Republicans, who currently hold a majority in the House, could potentially prohibit additional funding for the program, question its efficacy and raise doubts about the exact uses of the money given to this program. Regardless of their budgetary concerns, that they have treated veterans’ health care as a superfluous expense is shameful. Even if legislators manage to fix the current flaws in the hospital system — a seemingly unlikely task — hospital stays only offer a temporary solution.

The responsibility to rectify the situation rests with our elected officials. Sadly, current bipartisan efforts reflect an unlikely hope. Despite the fact that politicians from both parties — many who are still in office — joined together to support the 2002 Iraq Resolution, these same politicians now seem to have forgotten that the men and women they sent overseas to supposedly preserve democracy are not dispensable. They risked their lives in service to our country and as such deserve better than our politicians’ shameful treatment.

Email Dan Moritz-Rabson at [email protected].