The calls for President Barack Obama to comment on the situation at Veterans’ Affairs have only grown louder in the past several days. While he still isn’t saying anything, he is sending a top White House staffer to the Phoenix VA hospital, which has served as the main example of the VA’s problems. Meanwhile, the House of Representatives is going to take on the issue this week.
White House spokesman Jay Carney told the media today that Obama is sending White House Deputy Chief of Staff Rob Nabors to Phoenix, reports Fox News. Nabors is already working on the issue, assisting VA Secretary Eric Shinseki on an internal investigation on the matter.
The Phoenix VA has been at the center of the scandal, as it was alleged last month that 40 veterans died waiting for health care. This is an issue several other states are dealing with, as allegations of doctored wait lists continue to surface. Staffers have been accused of tampering with wait lists to make it appear as if veterans were seen when they were not.
The only person in the VA to resign so far has been Undersecretary Robert Petzel, who was actually planning on retiring this year anyway. Shinseki has refused to resign, but told a Senate committee that the scandal makes him “mad as hell.”
Carney said that the president feels the same way, but refused to say when Obama would finally comment on the situation. “I'm sure you'll hear from him at some point on this issue soon,” Carney said Monday.
Meanwhile, Reuters reports that the House plans on answering the issue by passing a bill that would make it easier for Shinseki to fire those responsible. This would give Shinseki “greater authority to fire employees ... due to poor performance in the same manner a member of Congress can remove a member of their staff,” according to the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. The bill will reach the House floor on Thursday.
In addition, allegations are surfacing that Obama might have been warned before even taking office in 2008 that he should not trust what VA hospitals were reporting. The Washington Times reports that VA officials wrote to Obama’s transition team, “This is not only a data integrity issue in which [Veterans Health Administration] reports unreliable performance data; it affects quality of care by delaying — and potentially denying — deserving veterans timely care.”