A Georgian the other day gave an exceptionally fiery speech on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives blasting the federal Veterans Affairs leadership as “liars,” calling for the ouster of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki and demanding that President Barack Obama immediately address the incredible neglect, abuse and alleged deaths of patients in VA facilities around the country.
Was this one of Georgia’s Republican congressmen well known as a longtime Obama critic?
No. It was none other than Obama supporter and prominent Black Caucus member Rep. David Scott attracting the attention of the news media and, ultimately, everyone who follows the political issues of the day. A video of Scott’s passionate speech went viral on the Internet within 24 hours.
Among other issues, the Democrat congressman seeks Obama administration accountability ranging from the falsifying of patient wait times to the covering up of patient suicides.
It was just a year ago that Scott— working closely with U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga.— sought answers after an internal audit revealed rising suicides of soldiers due to mismanagement of Atlanta VA mental health programs. They got the incompetent Atlanta VA director fired and, so far, the replacement has appeared to turn the ship in the right direction.
Now, swift action like that needs to happen again at the national level. That’s why it is gratifying that outrage from our military/veterans community that has sacrificed so much for our country, along with mainstream media Memorial Day weekend coverage, has gotten the attention of the general public.
It is incredible to note that back in 2008, during the waning days of the Bush administration, audits revealed that the VA was misreporting wait times for medical treatment. One audit found delays nearly 10 times worse than the federal department was officially acknowledging. The situation was so bad then that the inspector general said it stopped trying to police the issue until the VA could prove its information was accurate— raising a red flag for the Obama presidential transition team, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times.
According to the documents obtained by the Times, the VA inspector told the Obama team of three audits dating back to 2005 that revealed terrible problems with patient wait times and scheduling to see doctors. One of those audits, the Times reports, showed an instance in which the VA claimed 2,900 veterans waited more than a month for medical appointments. However, the auditors found that about 28,000 vets was the more accurate number of patients affected. No wonder Scott is upset over the VA “liars” he has encountered.
As this is written, VA officials also haven’t responded to questions about why it has taken the department so long to enact an “action plan” that Shinseki recently claimed would provide officials with more accurate data on wait times.
Congressman Scott has placed country over party in order to do right by our veterans. The pressure can only build on the president to clean house and start systematic reform if more congressional Democrats start speaking out like their vocal colleague from Georgia.
# # #
