Bad People

From the article below we learned that Congress knew:

In 2004, Rep. C.W. Bill Young (R-Fla.) and his wife stopped visiting the wounded at Walter Reed out of frustration. Young said he voiced concerns to commanders over troubling incidents he witnessed but was rebuffed or ignored. “When Bev or I would bring problems to the attention of authorities of Walter Reed, we were made to feel very uncomfortable,” said Young, who began visiting the wounded recuperating at other facilities.

Beverly Young said she complained to Kiley several times. She once visited a soldier who was lying in urine on his mattress pad in the hospital. When a nurse ignored her, Young said, “I went flying down to Kevin Kiley’s office again, and got nowhere. He has skirted this stuff for five years and blamed everyone else.”

So, who is Congressman C.W. Bill Young? Wikipedia tells us that Charles William “Bill” Young:

… is currently the most senior Republican member of the House of Representatives. From 1999 to 2005, he was the Chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations; he gave up the position because of Republican-set term limits. He is currently ranking minority member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

He was chairman of the House Appropriations committee when this happened. Not a penny gets spent that doesn’t go through that committee, and the chairman sets the agenda. He could have held up the entire defense budget to get improvements, but he chose to go to other facilities because he and his wife “were made to feel very uncomfortable.” I doubt they were as uncomfortable as the wounded.

Update: Steve Soto of the Left Coaster noticed this last night.