Rep. Bruce Braley (D., Iowa), the Democratic Senate candidate in Iowa, is drawing fire from Republicans for missing more than three-fourths of full Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearings.
The Cedar Rapids Gazette completed a fact check of the Iowa GOP’s claim:
We found Braley attended four of 19 hearings of the full Veterans' Affairs Committee, which has about 25 members. This means he missed 78 percent of those full committee meetings in 2011 and 2012.
However, Braley missed only two of 17 hearings of the Veterans' Affairs Economic Opportunities Subcommittee, of which he was one of eight members. This subcommittee deals with veterans' education, employment, training and housing, as well as readjustment to civilian life.
When you put both the full committee and the subcommittee hearings together, Braley attended about half of the gatherings in the two-year period.
Republicans further noted that Braley missed an Oct. 2012 hearing on the Miami Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where hundreds of veterans were reportedly put at risk after facility employees failed to properly sterilize reusable medical equipment. Lawmakers at the hearing called the center a "window to a national problem."
"Bruce Braley turned his back on our veterans, because when he had the chance to learn about the nationwide problems within the VA, he skipped the hearing," said Iowa Republican Party spokesman Jahan Wilcox in a statement. "If Braley did his job and didn’t skip 78 percent of his Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearings, he would’ve seen that our VA is crumbling and failing to provide our veterans with proper care."
Braley and Republican Joni Ernst are in a dead heat in the Senate race, according to an average of polls compiled by Real Clear Politics.