WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley and fellow senators today pressed the Department of Veterans Affairs on why only “one to six” people responsible for the wait time scandal have been fired in the past two years, despite President Obama’s assertion that a “whole bunch” of people have been fired.
“Whenever scandals come up, whether at the VA or the Department of Defense, nothing changes unless people are held accountable,” Grassley said. “Manipulating wait times for veterans health care ought to be a fireable offense. It adds insult to injury when the White House claims managers have been punished when they haven’t.”
Grassley and fellow senators, led by Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, wrote to Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald to press for answers on why so few employees have been punished for the wait list scandal and what the VA might need from Congress to ensure strong leadership.
“While changing a culture riddled with corruption and poor morale is not easy, until failing VA employees are held accountable for their actions, nothing will change,” the senators wrote.
Grassley has a long record of working to build accountability from the VA and improve veterans services. He started a veterans fellowship program and has fellows working in his Des Moines and Cedar Rapids offices to help Iowa veterans. Grassley has been focused on getting the VA to fix the Veterans Choice program, which Congress approved to allow veterans to receive health care outside of the VA when services aren’t available in a timely fashion or when outside options are better for the veterans. The agency botched the program rollout and after Grassley weighed in, pledged to fix it.
Grassley is a cosponsor of legislation to make it easier for the VA to remove or demote employees based on poor performance or misconduct.
Today’s letter is available here.
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