Pressure builds on Shinseki to resign
By Kristina Wong - 05/06/14 08:02
PM EDT
Pressure built on Tuesday for Department of Veterans Affairs
Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign,
with more outraged lawmakers calling for his head over charges his agency tried
to cover up long wait times for VA appointments that resulted in deaths.
Three Republican senators called
on Shinseki to resign, including Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas),
while Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in a release heavily criticized the
secretary for problems at the VA.
“The president needs to find a new
leader to lead this organization out of the wilderness, and back to providing
the service our veterans deserve,” Cornyn said in his statement.
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a
member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the
VA committee’s ranking member, also called for Shinseki’s resignation.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) appeared to support calls for Shinseki’s resignation.
“A change in leadership might be a
good step in the right direction,” he said.
This is far from the first time
there have been calls for Shinseki’s resignation, who has come under repeated
criticism for not doing enough to cut down on long wait times at VA facilities.
But it’s clear he now faces the
biggest challenge to his tenure.
The new calls for his head came
after allegations surfaced this week that clerks at a Veterans Affairs clinic
in Fort Collins, Colo., were instructed last year to falsify
appointment records so it appeared that the doctors were meeting the VA’s goals
of seeing patients within 14 days.
The revelation followed other
allegations that surfaced last month that a VA clinic in Phoenix had placed some veterans on a secret
wait list, also in order to obscure long appointment wait times — which a
whistleblower said resulted in the deaths of more than 40 veterans.
The VA has placed the Phoenix clinic
administrator on leave and is conducting investigations into both cases.
The allegations led the American
Legion to call for Shinseki to resign. Another veterans group, the Veterans of
Foreign Wars, did not call for resignations but said Congress should probe the
matter.
The White House defended Shinseki
on Thursday.
“The president remains confident
in Secretary Shinseki’s ability to lead the department and to take appropriate
action based on the IG’s findings,” White House press secretary Jay Carney
said.
Separately, White House spokesman
Shin Inouye in a statement noted that President Obama had directed Shinseki to
investigate allegations surrounding the Phoenix
facility. The statement noted that Shinseki has also invited the independent
Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General to conduct a review.
Several lawmakers have stopped
short of calling for Shinseki’s resignation in a sign he might survive the
battle.
“I do know he is a fine man, but
you got to be accountable, so we’ll see,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
“He seems to be playing catch up, when it comes to day-to-day healthcare. …
He’s going to have to up his game, that’s for sure.”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) also
stopped short of calling for Shinseki, a retired four-star Army general who was
wounded while serving in Vietnam,
to step down.
“No, I think we need to complete
the investigation. I’m obviously very unhappy, and the investigation needs to
go on, but let us get through this investigation,” he said.
Eric Shinseki
Eric
K. Shinseki is the secretary at the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs for the Barack
Obama administration, and was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
Note: Togo D. West Jr. was
the secretary for the U.S. Department of
Veterans Affairs, and is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.
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