Before the Senate Appropriations Committee voted on a bill to fund Veterans Affairs programs on Thursday, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) asked to be recognized to address recent revelations that veterans have died after being placed on secret waiting lists at VA hospitals.
“Before we vote, Madam Chairwoman,” Shelby began, “I would just like to say that I am pleased that the Committee is giving the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs bill top priority because, like so many of my colleagues, I am deeply concerned about the recent allegations of ‘secret’ waiting lists and avoidable veteran deaths as a result of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ mismanagement.”
CNN recently conducted a six-month investigation into “extended delays in health care appointments suffered by veterans across the country,” some of whom “died while waiting for appointments and care.”
In late April, CNN revealed that 40 U.S. veterans died while waiting for appointments at a VA hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. On top of that, the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system had apparently created an elaborate scheme to hide the fact that they were not delivering timely care to their patients.
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Today, Alabama’s senior senator unloaded on the Obama Administration, citing multiple warning signs of veterans abuse that the Administration ignored over the last several years.
“It is unconscionable that our nation’s veterans would be denied timely access to the healthcare services they both need and have earned,” Shelby said. “It is furthermore unconscionable that the Obama Administration has ignored repeated warning signs of these abuses, including a December 2012 GAO report, a September 2013 Inspector General report, and a December 2013 report by the Office of the Medical Inspector.
“During his 2008 Presidential campaign, then Senator Barack Obama affirmed that, quote, ‘in an Obama administration, the VA will provide benefits and care that will be accessible, high-quality, reliable, responsive and fair, year after year,’ end quote,” Shelby continued. “Yet today, we are faced with reports of VA employees creating secret waiting lists and falsifying records, leading to numerous preventable veteran deaths. Let me be clear. This kind of reported misconduct at the VA is unforgivable. It is unacceptable. And, it is just plain wrong.”
In addition to funding all programs under the Dept. of Veterans Affairs’ jurisdiction, today’s bill also includes $5 million in additional funding for the VA’s Inspector General to investigate what happened with veterans being denied benefits.
“While I commend the Committee’s support for an additional $5 million in funding to the Office of the Inspector General to investigate the VA’s scheduling practices, I also recognize that this is just a starting point,” Shelby said. “We must do more than simply ‘research’ the problem. We must correct it. And, we must correct it before any more veterans are adversely affected.
“Our nation’s veterans deserve to be treated with the respect they have earned during their service to our country,” he continued. “The cost of freedom is dear, and this cost is borne willingly by America’s veterans. They sacrifice for our nation. They serve for our freedoms, and the very least that we can do is provide them with timely access to health benefits they have earned.”
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