USA Today: Shinseki Must Act To End 'Needless Parade Of Negligence And Death'

Today in Washington, D.C. - May 16, 2014
The House and Senate are not in session today. The House will reconvene on Monday at Noon. The Senate will reconvene at 11 AM on Monday for a pro forma session.

On Tuesday evening, the Senate is scheduled to vote on confirmation of Gregg Costa to be US Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit and then on cloture on the nomination of Stanley Fischer to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.

Yesterday, after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) again refused to allow any amendments on a bill, this time on the tax extenders package (H.R. 3474), Republicans blocked the bill from moving forward. Democrats failed to get cloture on the Wyden substitute amendment to the bill containing the tax extenders language by a vote of 53-40.

Also yesterday the Senate confirmed 3 more district court judges for Arizona and cloture was invoked on the Costa nomination using the precedent Democrats established when they used the nuclear option to break Senate rules and allow nominees to achieve cloture with fewer than 60 votes.

Yesterday, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and Under Secretary Dr. Robert Petzel appeared before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on what went wrong at the VA. Below is a CNN report on the hearing:

CNN's Drew Griffin reports on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki's appearance before Congress to explain hospital wait times.

CNN's Drew Griffin reports on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki's appearance before Congress to explain hospital wait times. On May 8, 2012, the House Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing examining.

CNN's Drew Griffin reports on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki's appearance before Congress to explain hospital wait times.

CNN's Drew Griffin reports on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki's appearance before Congress to explain hospital wait times. On May 8, 2012, the House Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing examining.

CNN's Drew Griffin reports on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki's appearance before Congress to explain hospital wait times. On May 8, 2012, the House Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing.

On May 8, 2012, the House Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing examining mental health efforts within the VA. Eric Shinseki, secretary of the VA, attend.

The pending VA shutdown has veterans scrambling to figure out how they will live without their benefits. After the House questioned Secretary Shinseki, I cou.

Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas) questioned numerous Obama Administration appointees and helped uncover the shocking revelation that the Department of Ve.

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a Member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, on Wednesday questioned Secretary of Veterans' Affairs (VA) Eric Shins.

U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a Member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, on Wednesday questioned Secretary of Veterans' Affairs (VA) Eric Shins.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said actions will be taken based on the findings of an independent investigation into allegations that up to 40 veterans may have died while awaiting..

Senator Burr, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, addresses General Eric Shinseki at his confirmation hearing for the position of Se.

At a hearing on the Department Veterans Affairs' FY13 budget request, Sen. Landrieu questions Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki about why the depar.

In addition to questioning Secretary Shinseki about the Department's ongoing efforts to provide the care and benefits our veterans have earned, Chairman Murr.

On Monday, April 15, 2013, Sen. Moran addressed Secretary Eric Shinseki and VA Officials about the important needs for Kansas veterans.

Congressman Mica spoke with Fox35 News concerning construction delays of the Central Florida VA Medical Center on March 27th following the House Veterans' Af.

(Washington, D.C.) -- Today, U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) questioned panelists at the Veterans' Affairs Committee Joint Hearing about the backlog of Veter.

There are alarming new reports this week about how difficult it has become for veterans to receive medical care from VA hospitals. Reports indicated at least.

More than half of veterans who file a claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs will end up waiting 125 days or more for their claim to be processed. As .

Congressman Ander Crenshaw, a member of the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Subcommittee, questions VA Secetary Erik Shinseki about.

In a joint press conference, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki said their departments are working closely to stream.

Today, U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) questioned Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack during the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to revi.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki says more college educated professionals will enter the work force because of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. See more DoD vi.

In an editorial titled “VA chief Shinseki has a lot to explain,” USA Today writes, “At a hearing on Thursday, senators from both parties expressed outrage over a string of reports from across the country of treatment delays, deaths of patients waiting for care, coverups and alleged document destruction at a VA facility in Phoenix. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki declared himself ‘mad as hell.’ More than anger is needed, however. It's action to identify and fix what appear to be longstanding, systemic problems. Reports and investigations going back years show a VA system overwhelmed by a surge of veterans needing care, often unable to give them timely treatment and plagued by some workers cooking the books to hide unacceptable delays.”

The editors note, “Among the most disturbing reports: The deaths of 23 veterans were linked to delayed cancer screenings dating back four years at 13 facilities in nine states. Six veterans died after delays at a single hospital in Columbia, S.C. Veterans in Fort Collins, Colo., waited months to be seen, and clerks were taught how to falsify appointment records to make it appear the small staff of doctors was meeting performance goals. Similar games were played at a VA center in Cheyenne, Wyo. At the VA hospital in Phoenix, a retired doctor charged that some patients facing lengthy waits for appointments were omitted from electronic files and placed on a ‘secret’ paper waiting list. Forty died, he said, but it is unclear whether their deaths were linked to the delays. This month, a high-ranking physician at the Phoenix hospital told The Arizona Republic that there was an attempt to destroy evidence of the waiting list manipulations.”

They admonish the VA chief, “For VA leaders — including Shinseki, who has been on the job since 2009 — these problems should come as no shock. In April 2010, an internal VA inquiry found systematic ‘gaming strategies’ at regional clinics to hide delays. The report cited about two dozen gaming techniques, some involving falsifying records. There is no evidence of effective follow-up. Bipartisan concern over Shinseki's leadership is increasing, and one major veterans group has called for his ouster. . . . At Thursday's hearing, Shinseki said he's awaiting results from an investigation of the Phoenix VA and his own nationwide audit. To save his job, he'll need to act more decisively than he has if the needless parade of negligence and death is to be stopped.”

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports, “Democrats showed increasing nervousness over the political peril raised by allegations of extended wait times at a Department of Veterans Affairs health facility, while the agency's acting inspector general said he had so far found no evidence patients had died because of long waits for care. The White House has sought this week to contain the potential crisis, which has emerged just as Democrats thought they had put questions about President Barack Obama's managerial skills behind them after the flawed rollout of the HealthCare.gov website. Mr. Obama on Wednesday dispatched one of his top aides to the VA, and the president's spokesman reported Thursday that Mr. Obama is ‘angry’ about the allegations.”

But as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said yesterday, “My concern is that the Obama Administration will treat this scandal like it does all the others like a political crisis to get past rather than a serious problem to be solved. We know he appointed a member of his staff yesterday to look into it. That’s a start. But if the President is truly serious, he needs to treat these stories at least as seriously as he did the Obamacare website fiasco. When he pledged his complete attention and the full force of his Administration to do whatever needed to be done. When he let it be known that his people would not rest until a solution could be worked out. Incredibly, so far the President has made no such pledge when it comes to the treatment of our veterans. The President needs to understand that our veterans deserve at least as much attention as a website. In fact, they deserve a whole heck of a lot more. This is a big deal.”

The Journal noted, though, that the Obama administration isn’t quite as on top of things as it should be. “Though the White House said Wednesday that Rob Nabors, a White House deputy chief of staff, would assist in the review of the VA, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) said the appointment alone might not be enough and suggested more resources were needed—possibly more federal investigative agencies. ‘It's another piece of evidence that management and implementation have not been this administration's strong suit,’ said William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, as well as a Wall Street Journal columnist. Jim Nicholson, who served as VA secretary under President George W. Bush, said in an interview that the White House response to the controversy has been low key. ‘It doesn't seem to me that the White House is taking it very seriously,’ he said. Mr. Nicholson said the president himself should address the matter.”

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