"Brent Budowsky: VA scandal is bipartisan"

[applegrove]

Brent Budowsky: VA scandal is bipartisan

By Brent Budowsky at the Hill

http://thehill.com/opinion/brent-budowsky/206895-brent-budowsky-va-scandal-is-bipartisan

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It is inexcusable that the president said he learned about the VA crisis on television, sent his staff to tell Americans he is angry about the alleged deaths, let his press secretary dish ridiculous spin that the departure of a VA official who was already leaving represented accountability, and retreated into media seclusion on the matter until Wednesday.

Republicans in Congress were no better. Every member of the House and Senate works on cases for veterans. Numerous committees have oversight duties they neglected. They, like the president, learned about this scandal from television. They, like the VA and White House staff, did nothing to prevent it. In a Congress that will be remembered for how many vacations it took, how little work it accomplished and how much taxpayer money Republicans misused investigating Democrats rather than veterans care, shame on GOP partisans who parade to the cameras today. You bet I criticize Obama here, but House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has many vets in his district. Before he criticizes Obama, he might tell us when he first learned about this VA crisis, and what he did.

There are many good people who perform great work for vets at the VA. Many vets receive quality care from the VA. Obama and Shinseki have made improvements at the department and lowered wait times for care and benefits. They dropped the ball on management, as Congress dropped the ball on oversight, while a small number of bureaucrats — who should be imprisoned if wrongdoing is proven — gamed the system and cheated our veterans.

The VA system is overloaded and underfunded after two long wars. A Marine Corps pathologist once found that some 70 percent of those killed or wounded in these wars suffered preventable casualties. The politicians who sent these young men and women to war were passing tax cuts and attending fundraisers while refusing to provide them with body armor and Humvees that would have saved their lives and limbs. Negligent politicians — from both parties — often drove by the once scandal-ridden Walter Reed hospital to attend political events.


Read more: http://thehill.com/opinion/brent-budowsky/206895-brent-budowsky-va-scandal-is-bipartisan#ixzz32gv3zbBW
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