Conservative Lawmaker Seeks Answers From the VA on Misleading Statements
Kate Scanlon /
Earlier this week, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee held a hearing in order to try and answer lingering questions about mismanagement at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
During the hearing, Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., questioned General Counsel Leigh Bradley about multiple misstatements made by leading VA officials.
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald said in a “Meet the Press” interview in February that 60 people at the department had been fired for manipulating the time it took for veterans to receive care.
The committee has since determined that only four individuals were fired.
“There is no way for us to restore trust unless we are more careful about specific facts, numbers and information that we provide,” acknowledged Bradley during the hearing.
Huelskamp said the department’s hesitation to the remaining question casts doubt on their trustworthiness.
In an interview with The Daily Signal, Huelskamp said the hearing had been called due to “ongoing concern” about officials from the department and the Obama administration who have “not been forthcoming with information.”
“Why haven’t you answered these questions?” Huelskamp said.
Huelskamp said it was “standard operating procedure” for the VA to send lower level employees who aren’t prepared to answer the questions of the committee members.
The committee and the American people were misled or even lied to, Huelskamp said, about the number of people who had been fired for manipulating the wait times for veterans to receive health care.
He said the department must cooperate with congressional oversight.
Huelskamp called McDonald’s comments the “most misleading” statement he’d heard in the course of the investigation, and that veterans, Americans, and Congress deserve answers.
“Veterans have lost their lives because of this,” Huelskamp said.
Huelskamp has requested a written statement from the VA regarding five specific misstatements.
“It shouldn’t be hard to explain—was it a mistake, or was it a lie?” Huelskamp said.
Huelskamp argues that the same “bureaucratic problems” that plague the VA may soon extend to the rest of the health care system.
“Veterans are so important,” Huelskamp said. “It gets to the heart of our entire system of health care. Veterans deserve choices about their health care. Patients deserve choices.”