Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
It’s been almost one full year since the VA scandal broke, but was anything really done to hold the agency accountable or to prevent abuses from happening in the future?
Republican House Speaker John Boehner doesn’t think so.
“Just one person has been fired. One,” Boehner said in a scathing House floor speech. “What the hell happened to the rest of them?” He appealed for the agency to take care of America’s veterans as well as they take care “of the bureaucrats.”
…Boehner, R-Ohio, said he is especially frustrated that so few VA officials have been fired, despite evidence that at least 110 VA facilities kept secret lists to manipulate and hide long wait-times. In February, VA Secretary Robert McDonald claimed in a TV interview that the department had “fired” 60 people connected with the scandal.
…That estimate was later revised down to 14. But The New York Times reported in late April that, according to documents given to Congress, only one person had actually been fired — Phoenix VA hospital director Sharon Helman. Another retired under pressure and another’s “termination” was pending. Several others were disciplined in other ways.
There was waste, fraud, and outright criminal activity occurring in the VA system. Who is being held accountable for these abuses and inefficiencies? Our veterans deserve better. I’m just grateful that our members of the armed services don’t share the same lackluster work ethic when it comes to protecting our country, that the VA exhibits when it comes to veteran care.
