EXPOSED: How the VA Quietly Stripped Veterans of Gun Rights | Rep. Mike Bost

Transcript:

We need to make sure that the programs we invest in, in the Farm Bill are doing what they’re supposed to do. Providing that safety net. Also encouraging the next generation of farmers to stay in the business. If someone at the va, a, a counselor or whatever, believes that that per that veteran is a danger to themselves or others, then they can do a reporting, and then the reporting must go to a judge or magistrate who would then rule on whether or not they were.

Are a danger themselves, and that would be the only way they could lose it. This has been going on for over 30, 30 years. All of the things that were mentioned during his campaign come to light downsizing, government making government more efficient, saving the American tax dollars. And why is that?

Because we can’t continue to go into debt and hand that off to our children. And Rich, that’s probably.

Joining me now is someone who has been a tireless advocate for our veterans, a defender of constitutional rights, and a leading voice for Southern Illinois Congressman Mike. Bost serves as chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee and sits on the transportation infrastructure and agriculture committee’s, all critical roles as we move into a pivotal year under the new Trump administration.

Congressman, thank you so much for being with me here today. It’s such an honor to have you really appreciate being on with. Sir amac action. The advocacy arm of AMAC proudly supports the Veteran’s Second Amendment Protection Act. Yes. Can you walk us through what this bill accomplishes and, and why it’s so critical for protecting our veterans?

Yeah, so what What it does is it makes permanent something we were able to put, unfortunately, we had to use the budget last time to get this stopped, but for over the last 35, 37, well, ever since the Brady Bill passed. Ever since the Brady bill passed. Now, that was a long time ago, but what happens is, and this is with an interpretation, uh, that was given to, uh, the VA attorneys back years ago, that if a veteran goes to the VA and during that time that they are at the VA receiving care, all of a sudden they have to have a fiduciary to handle their finances.

Then automatically, according to the way the VA has been reading this law, is they have to be turned into the next list, which then they will lose their second amendment right without due process. Without due process. Anyone who is not a veteran, they would, if, if, if, if somebody felt that they were a danger to themselves or someone else, then someone would have to file.

And report, and then that would have to go to a judge that that judge would have to bring them in to make a decision with due process if they were truly a danger to themselves or others. Now, the problem with that is, is that we have a tremendous amount of. Veterans around this nation that choose not to go and seek help from the VA for the fear that they would have this happen to them and they wouldn’t be able to go one, to protect their family.

Two, uh, would lose their second amendment rights or not be able to hunt with their children and grandchildren. So, so it was a problem I believe that was keeping veterans from going to the va. I have been working on this for quite some time, but now as chairman, we we’re able to move forward and actually get it in the budget process where basically no money could be transferred from the VA to, uh, the Nicks, uh, department.

So we stopped it that way, but that’s not permanent. What we need to do is pass this law, which makes it permanent. And what it does is it just simply states exactly what it is that I just explained to your listeners right here, and that is. If you receive a fiduciary, it does not automatically take your Second Amendment rights away or turn you into the next list.

What it does is it says that if someone at the va, a, a counselor or whatever, believes that that pers that veteran is a danger to themselves or others. Then they can do a reporting, and then the reporting must go to a judge or magistrate who would then rule on whether or not they were a danger themselves, and that would be the only way they could lose it.

This has been going on for over 30, 30 years. It’s insane. I bet there are so many Americans who were not aware of it, uh, and who have found themselves, you know, left without their second Amendment right. You know, being essentially stripped from them. Uh, this is such important work that you’re doing and as strong supporters of, of our second amendment, we, we hear at amac, we applaud.

Those efforts and we thank you for fighting on that front. Thank you. Um, now veterans in rural areas like Southern Illinois, they often face delays in in access and care. Uh, what concrete steps are you taking in 2025 to help leverage DO’S influence, right to streamline. The VA operations just to make sure that we have timely services, especially under, you know, the new Trump administration who’s saying, we’ve gotta cut this waste, fraud, and abuse.

Right? But we certainly don’t want that to hurt, uh, the people who need it. Right. And really very much so deserve it as they’ve, uh, defended our own rights protecting us. That is correct. And what we are doing is, first off, I’m a very good, I’m if you know the new secretary. Uh, Doug Collins and I served together here in, uh, in, in Congress, uh, and Doug now is the secretary.

He’s a very close friend, and we both have the same statement that we have made from our positions, and that is that the VA was not created for the bureaucracy. It was created for the veteran. And though we have grown the BA over the last 10 years as far as staffing and also budget. We are not seeing better results as far as services and the speed at which services are provided.

Remember, the VA is the second largest bureaucracy in the world. The second largest bureaucracy in the world. So early on, uh, the secretary who came in was made a decision to take all the ones that are still on probationary period and, and let them go. Okay. ’cause he could legally do that. Well, when he did that, it was about 2000 people.

Then we found out we don’t want to lose lose nurses, we don’t wanna lose docs and everything. So a bunch of ’em got put back and therefore it was about 500. And so then, um, the people were screaming, veteran services are gonna fail, veteran services are gonna fail. This is important for your listeners to know.

I just said they’d lost 500. The total employees for the VA system is 477,000. Wow. You will not, you will lose 500 people just in turnover in RBA. We do need to reduce that bureaucracy level, and we need to make sure that the laws that have been passed that try to make it better for the veterans are being implemented.

The secretary, earlier this week, Juan sat down with I and our Republican members of the committee. To sh lay out his move forward on how it is, we’re going to make it t trimmer. And more focused on the veteran. He not only did that with us, he then brought in the veteran service organizations, the American Legion, uh, the, the VFW, uh, the, the, the Big Vs.

Veteran Service Organizations brought them in for breakfast. Earlier this week, I. And explain to them the same thing so that they can go out and tell their members, you’re not gonna lose your services. We want to make your services better, and we wanna do it by spending your tax dollars wisely, because you know what?

Veterans are taxpayers too. They sure are. And it’s such a common sense approach. And you know, anyone who isn’t for that, I mean, it’s just, uh, it’s smart. It’s, it’s making us taxpayer dollars go to go to work where they should be going to work. Uh, and, you know, we just applaud the work that you’re doing again, uh, especially for our veterans.

You, you’ve got great focus also on rural communities. Yep. Uh, what specific inefficiencies do you see in federal? Agricultural programs. Uh, well, right, right now it’s already right for reform. Right now, where we’re at, we’re trying to get the farm bill passed. Unfortunately, the farm bill, uh, it, we have to pass it every five years.

We’re two years over on the time we were supposed to pass it because of arguments. Now, what you need to understand is, is that the farm bill, and so many people don’t realize this, only about 16% of the farm bill deals with agriculture. The rest deals with the SNAP program, the food nutrition program. That was how it was created in its original way.

Um, but what we have to make sure of is that the services that are in the Farm Bill side, that 16% that are vitally important. Our, uh, what, what’s known as the safety net that is, that is crop insurance. Uh, and right now our farmers are hurting very, very badly in this United States. Well, our row crops.

Understand the diversity of our agriculture around this nation. I come from an area that, uh, is one of the most diverse districts. Um, ’cause we have row crops, corn, soybean, and we do a thing called double cropping because we’re in this patch, uh, through the middle of the United States that you can actually grow winter wheat and then all of a sudden go to your other crop, whether it’s corn, soybeans, or sorghum.

Um, but then when you get down. To my home, which is Murfreesboro, Illinois and South. It turns into peach tree, peach trees, apple trees, grapevines, uh, uh, a lot of vineyards there. And then over on the river is rice, and especially non-gluten rice that has grown in our area. And just recently we went to cotton.

So it’s a very diverse, uh, uh, agricultural area. That being said, we need to make sure that the programs we invest in, in the farm Bill. Are doing what they’re supposed to do. Providing that safety net. Also encouraging the next generation of farmers to stay in the business where you have a tremendous amount of our farmers that either because of the sheer pressure all the time you’re gambling every year.

You know, I mean, what’s the weather gonna do? Is it gonna be too hot? Is it gonna be too wet? Um, what’s the prices doing? We’ve got to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to make sure our new. Farmers are encouraged to stay in the business. Oh, that’s terrific. Really good. Thank you so much for that.

Now I, I wanna talk a little bit about if we could, uh, transportation, federal transportation, because you’ve been pushing for efficiency through Doge. Uh, so do you see redundancies or outdated policies in federal transportation programs that you think could be cut to improve the infrastructure delivery?

It’s not so, it’s not so much cut on the transportation, but make sure that the money is being spent to where it’s supposed to be spent. Let me give you an example. When we passed the, um, when during the Biden administration, they pushed forward with the, um, infrastructure bill. Now I’m gonna, I’m gonna tell you what I think infrastructure is and your listeners can see if they agree.

Roads, bridges in seaports, inland ports, airports, um, rail, uh, water and sewer lines. Uh, tri, uh, uh, communication lines. That’s infrastructure. It is not the federal government’s job to put charging stations for cars that aren’t enough of ’em to have to use ’em yet. And of that bill, more than half went to those type of ideas.

I would like to take that money, shift it away from those ideas. And here, here, lemme explain why I. In the entrepreneurship of our forefathers, when the internal combustion engine came out, the federal government didn’t need to give you money to build gas stations. The free market did, and the free market was encouraged.

And if you would’ve noticed that with some electric cars. They were starting to build out before we put all this money on infrastructure for doing that. And how, how do we know that? Well, if you notice many of their truck stops and many of your gas stations started putting in charging stations, many of the hotels along the interstates put started putting in charging stations.

Not with federal dollars, but with their own dollars making the investment. So they drew the, drew the customer to them. That is not where we need to, we don’t need to, to discourage them from doing that by all of a sudden saying, oh, we’re going to. Create all these charging station, let the free market do it, get out of that, that business, and know what our job is.

Our job is, according to Constitution, is deal with interstate commerce. Interstate commerce is driving up and down the roads, making sure those roads are free, ready to run. Rail, can transport, also shipping, uh, both in in the U us and also away from the US and back to the US again. All of these things are things we should wisely invest in.

Not all of these things that are now the, for a better term, woke. Uh, and, and go ahead and, and actually do what our forefathers have done all along and make the investment in true infrastructure. Yeah. So many AMAC members felt that, that, uh, you know, the left really stole their hard. Taxpayer dollar to go towards their green New Deal.

Something that the American people didn’t really want. They didn’t see the benefits. I mean, the people that they were trying to force these electric vehicles on, for example, were many people who couldn’t afford to, to give up the car that they had and go buy an electric car. And as so to what end? And this is why it’s so important again, that.

That people have that transparency, and we appreciate you bringing that to light. Sir, before we wrap up, I have a final question. Uh, we see how President Trump has laid out an aggressive first 100 day agenda. What are you personally most excited to help advance legislatively and what do you believe will have maybe the most immediate impact on your own constituents in Illinois’ 12th District?

Well, my, my constituents were very, very clear. Um, I think when they made their votes this time and it was securing the border. And it was removing, uh, those who were here illegally. I think he’s moving forward with that. We’ve gotta try to back him up with as much legislation. Now, legislation’s gonna still be difficult because that cloture rule in the Senate where it takes 60 votes to pass something before, uh, it takes just 50 votes.

I know that doesn’t make sense to a lot of people, but that is their, their rule over there. So I think you’ll see, um, uh, all of the things that were mentioned. During his campaign come to light downsizing, government making government more efficient, saving the American tax dollars. And why is that?

Because we can’t continue to go into debt and hand that off to our children and grandchildren. That’s probably one of the most important things. Amen. Those are all things so important to amax over 2 million members. Sir, we really appreciate you being with us. Uh, Congressman Mike Boss, we just so appreciate everything you’re doing to advocate for Southern Illinois farmers and you’re a champion, you know, for smarter infrastructure.

So we thank you for fighting for our veterans. Uh, cutting government waste with Doge. You are really bringing real world solutions to Washington and we’re thrilled to have you here. Hope to have you back with me again soon. Forward to it. Thank you. Thank. God bless you, and to all of you wonderful AMAC members listening.

Don’t forget to subscribe, share, and catch up. Tell people all about us because we’re unpacking the issues that really shape our heartland and beyond. Until then, I’m Rebecca Weber. God bless you all. Have a wonderful evening. The Association of Mature American citizens is the conservative voice for Americans 50 and older.

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