On September 30th, two Wisconsin housing shelters for veterans shut down due to lack of funding. One was in Green Bay and the other, Klein Hall, was in Chippewa Falls, which is in Rep Drunken Van Orden's district.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers had included an extra $1.9 million dollars for the agency overseeing these two halls, but Republicans legislators rejected the extra funding. Despite the blame laying with his fellow Republicans, DVO didn't hesitate to blame Evers for the situation. Just one thing though, DVO could have easily resolved the problem himself if he wasn't off getting plastered somewhere:

Both the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs (WDVA) and the Veterans Housing and Recovery Program oversaw Klein Hall. According to a report from Wisconsin Public Radio, the bulk of funding for the facility relied on daily reimbursements from the federal government in addition to state funds. During a press conference on Oct. 1, state Sen. Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) noted that Democrats tried to include funding for veterans shelters multiple times in budget negotiations, with no support from the Republican majority.

Hesselbein also noted that Van Orden could have requested additional federal funding.

“He could have requested the funds to keep the facilities open, and he didn’t,” she said of Van Orden.

The report goes on to list several members of Congress who did take care of the veterans in their district by requesting federal funding for them.

However, DVO reacted as one might have expected - obnoxiously and belligerently:

Despite this being in his power, Van Orden doubled down on blaming the Evers administration.

“Klein Hall’s closure is the result of mismanagement by Governor Evers’ administration,” Van Orden’s office said in an emailed statement. “The Veterans Housing and Recovery Program is run and funded by the State of Wisconsin. Congressman Van Orden has consistently fought for Wisconsin’s veterans, visiting Eau Claire earlier this year to press Governor Evers and [Wisconsin Veteran Affairs Secretary] James Bond to take immediate action to protect the residents of Klein Hall. Governor Evers also turned down available federal grant money that could have kept the facility open.”

Joey Hoey, the assistant deputy secretary at the WDVA, refuted Van Orden’s claims during a phone interview with Heartland Signal. Hoey agreed with the notion that there is nothing the Evers administration could have done to get enough funding for Klein Hall and the other two facilities without the Legislature’s support. He also said there was nothing stopping Van Orden from requesting more federal money for the WVDA since Klein Hall was funded and operated by both state and federal money.

“The idea that this is the Evers administration or Secretary Bonds’ faults is ridiculous,” Hoey said. “The Republican legislature voted multiple times not to provide the funding that the nonpartisan legislative fiscal bureau told them we needed to keep all three sites operational.”

DVO has now failed the farmers and the veterans in his district. In fact, there's not a lot of people he hasn't pissed off yet. But I'm sure the bar owners and the liquor store owners are mighty glad to see him walk in.