Hours after a majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives rejected bipartisan bills to fund veterans programs and the re-opening of national parks including the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-3) this morning will host members of the Franklin County Honor Flight at 11 a.m. Eastern Time on the grounds of the memorial.

“After the president’s allies in the House turned their backs on veterans and the White House threatened a veto had the funding passed, there was no way in hell I was going to let partisan politics and the administration’s new fences around the World War II Memorial stand in the way of these heroes who earned the right to visit their memorial to honor the sacrifices of their fallen friends,” said Luetkemeyer, whose late father Bill was a World War II veteran. “These brave men faced Nazi tanks and Imperial Japanese Zeros so I don’t think they are going to be concerned about a few fences erected at the last minute by the Obama Administration.”

Franklin County is one of 13 counties that make up Luetkemeyer’s 3^rd Congressional District.

Luetkemeyer also supported a second spending bill, also rejected by a majority of House Democrats and threatened with a veto by the White House, that would have funded the processing of claims at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“It is unconscionable to me that the president’s allies in the House would stand in the way of allowing VA claims processors to continue work on applications for those who put their lives on the line for our nation,” Luetkemeyer said. “While VA facilities remain open and veterans benefits continue to be paid, we could not allow the backlog of benefit applications to grow even larger.”