MADISON, Wis. — On Friday, at a campaign stop with GOP House leadership, WI-03 Rep. Derrick Van Orden was asked about how the current economy is affecting homelessness in La Crosse. His answer? “That has nothing to do with the federal government.” His committee assignments and record prove otherwise.
Van Orden chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, which oversees veterans’ housing programs—a federal effort to address homelessness he leads the oversight of. While he was chairman of that subcommittee, a veterans’ housing shelter closed in his district due to Van Orden refusing to take action to save it.
“This is the exact type of partisan fingerpointing that people are sick of. Families in Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District deserve a representative who works to provide real solutions instead of one who plays the blame game when asked hard and reasonable questions about their district,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Haley King. “Van Orden holds a leadership role over federal veterans’ housing programs—he can’t claim the federal government has nothing to do with this issue when he is responsible for overseeing part of it.”
This is not the first time Van Orden has finger-pointed to others to avoid talking about his own cost-raising record that has driven Wisconsinites to homelessness. Last year, Van Orden fell in hot water for blaming La Crosse city officials for a lack of shelter expansion, pointing to a parking lot that he said was blocking the expansion. The lot is county property, not the City Council’s to control. A council member responded that the biggest roadblock for the city and the county when assisting those experiencing homelessness is the lack of federal funding support.
