Recently, I shared my deep concerns with mismanagement at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and shocking reports that dozens of veterans across the country died while waiting for care on secret wait lists. I’d like to provide an update on the latest developments and how I’m working to demand accountability and improve access to care at the VA.
The resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki was an important step toward achieving reform at the VA, but it was only a first step. Much more work is ahead to address the problems at this government bureaucracy that has failed to perform its most basic duties. Where the administration falls short, Congress must step forward.
Our first priority must be to ensure those veterans who have been placed on these wait lists receive care as soon as possible. These men and women stepped up and answered the call to serve, and it’s our duty to make sure they have high quality, efficiently delivered care.
To that end, I am supporting the Veterans Choice Act, a bill offered by Senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). The bill gives veterans more choice and flexibility in receiving medical care, while keeping the VA health care system intact. Veterans should not have to drive hundreds of miles or wait around endlessly just for a visit with a primary care doctor. This proposal allows veterans to receive care from the doctor of their choice if the VA cannot schedule a timely appointment or if they live more than 40 miles away from the nearest VA facility.
We must also clean house at the VA; those responsible must be fired and held criminally liable if appropriate. Federal service rules make it incredibly difficult to outright fire a career civil servant. To address this problem, I am also cosponsoring the VA Management and Accountability Act authored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), which gives the VA secretary greater power to fire individuals if they have failed to do their jobs.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Senator McCain recently announced an agreement to advance legislation that embodies ideas found in both proposals I am cosponsoring. I intend to closely review the text of their agreement to ensure our constructive proposals are included. I also hope that amendments are made in order that my bill to ban bonuses at the Veterans Health Administration through 2015 gets a vote. VA funding should focus on fixing the problem, not rewarding incompetence.
New, aggressive leadership at the VA is also necessary to rebuild this broken agency. President Obama must quickly appoint a new secretary capable of overhauling this entrenched bureaucratic culture. I believe this nominee should be a reformer – someone who is going to shake up the system and not preserve the status quo. Even as the scandal fades from the news, I will remain focused on ensuring our veterans receive timely, high quality medical care. We owe them nothing less.
June 6, 2014, marks the 70th anniversary of D-Day, one of the most audacious military operations in world history. The Invasion of Normandy paved the way for the Allies’ long march to liberate Europe from the iron grasp of Nazi Germany. As the Omaha World-Herald recently detailed, the iconic landing craft that transported American troops to the beaches of Normandy was designed and produced by Andrew Jackson Higgins – a native Nebraskan. The Higgins boats were mass produced and used to reach shores in several other theatres of combat. General Dwight D. Eisenhower hailed Higgins as “the man who won the war for us.”
We know that Nebraskans helped fill the ranks bravely storming the beaches of Normandy by air and by sea 70 years ago. Their stories and memories live on as a reminder of the price of freedom, and I join the rest of our country and the world in saluting these heroes of our Greatest Generation.
Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.