This morning, Congresswoman Annie Kuster (NH-02) released the following statement regarding President Obama’s nomination of Bob McDonald to VA Secretary. Kuster was one of the first members of the U.S. House Veterans’ Affairs Committee to call for VA Secretary Eric Shinseki’s resignation after reports of gross mismanagement at the VA emerged:

“Over the past few months, the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee has uncovered shocking evidence of mismanagement at the VA. From secret wait lists to extremely long wait times to employees who put their own monetary gain ahead of our veterans’ welfare, the negligence displayed at many VA centers across the country is appalling and absolutely unacceptable. It is clearly time for a complete overhaul of the leadership structure at the VA, and as one of the first members of Congress to call for Secretary Eric Shinseki’s resignation, I urge Bob McDonald to immediately put into place mechanisms to ensure that this kind of mismanagement can never happen again. Moreover, the VA must immediately fire any employees who intentionally manipulated wait times in order to receive bigger bonuses. 

“As members of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, we must all come together to ensure that these problems are fixed, and I look forward to working with Mr. McDonald and my colleagues in Congress to continue to address and immediately put a stop to the many issues at the VA. To that end, I urge Congress to swiftly pass legislation I cosponsored, the Underserved Veterans Access to Health Care Act, which will add 2,000 medical residency positions at VA hospitals in communities that are facing physician shortages and help ensure that no veteran is forced to wait because of doctor shortages. Our veterans made extreme personal sacrifices to serve and protect the citizens of our great nation, and no veteran should ever have difficulty accessing the medical care he or she needs and rightly deserves.”

Since allegations of long wait times at the Phoenix VA were first discovered by the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Congresswoman Kuster has repeatedly called for increased oversight and immediate action at the VA to prevent any further mismanagement. She called for a thorough, nationwide audit of all VA medical centers, and she continues to call for additional audits to immediately identify and fix any problems at VA centers across the country. She has also provided strict oversight over the VA medical centers serving New Hampshire, and she has called on the New England VA Network Director to conduct a complete review of wait times and to provide whistleblower protection for staff who come forward with information about mismanagement. She also held a roundtable discussion with Veteran Service Organizations and veteran leaders to hear about their experiences at the VA medical centers, and she continues to monitor their care in New Hampshire.

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