Holt Fails To Get Bean Bill Passed

Not Rush Holt. Photo by Mike Halfacre

By Art Gallagher

 

Congressman Rush Holt has failed to get the Sgt. Coleman S. Bean Individual Ready Reserve Suicide Prevention Act of 2010 passed into law.  Had the bill become law, it would have earmarked $20 million for the Defense Department to prevent suicide by combat veterens  through advertsisng,  social media and phone calls.

Holt tauted the bill, as if it was already law, as one of his major accomplishments and a reason to reelect him during the 2010 12th district congressional campaign.

On October 22, 2010 during the heat of the campaign, MMM reported that the bill was not law.  We asserted that it would never become law and that Holt was cynically and shamelessly using his sponsorship of the law, and exploiting Sgt Bean’s family for his own political advantage.

Now Holt says he’s furious that the the provisions of the bill have been dropped from the final version of the Defense Appropriations Act presented to both houses of Congress.  He blames Senator John McCain for having the language of the bill removed from the Appropriations Act during the reconciliation process between the House and Senate versions of the bill.

Holt told mycentraljersey that McCain told him he blocked the Bean bill language and would continue to do so. “Maybe you need this in New Jersey, but we don’t need it in Arizona,” Holt says McCain said.

Posted: December 18th, 2010 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Rush Holt | Tags: John McCain, Rush Holt, Sgt. Coleman S. Bean | Comments Off on Holt Fails To Get Bean Bill Passed

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