Arlington, Va. – Concerned Veterans for America (CVA) Press Secretary John Cooper released the following statement regarding the Obama administration’s announcement that it will not defend a key part of the 2014 VA reform law which allows for Senior Executive Service employees at the VA to be fired for incompetent performance or unethical behavior:
“The Obama administration’s surrender to special interests and entrenched bureaucrats is an insult to all veterans, and disingenuous in light of the administration’s support for the law in 2014. The administration’s refusal to fully and completely defend this law opens the door for ethically challenged, even criminal, individuals like former Phoenix VA Medical Center Director Sharon Helman, who oversaw the wait lists on which hundreds of veterans died waiting for care, to regain their jobs and put veterans’ lives in jeopardy once again. This action is inexcusable. Our veterans deserve an administration committed to protecting their well-being just as they have protected ours.”
On August 7, 2014, when President Obama signed the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, he declared of the law:
“Now finally, we’re giving the VA Secretary more authority to hold people accountable. We’ve got to give Bob the authority so that he can move quickly to remove senior executives who fail to meet the standards of conduct and competence that the American people demand. If you engage in an unethical practice, if you cover up a serious problem, you should be fired. Period. It shouldn’t be that difficult.”
To schedule a TV, print or radio interview with a CVA expert, please email press@cv4a.org. For media inquiries or requests for comment, please email CVA Press Secretary John Cooper (jcooper@cv4a.org).
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Concerned Veterans for America is a non-partisan, non-profit, 501(c)(4) organization that advocates for policies that will preserve the freedom and prosperity we and our families so proudly fought and sacrificed to defend.