Another Review is Not A Solution
Arlington, Va. – In reaction to President Obama’s visit to the Phoenix VA and his announcement of the formation of a new advisory committee to “improve the VA’s ability to meet the needs of Veterans,” Concerned Veterans for America’s (CVA) Legislative Director Dan Caldwell issued the following statement:
“While CVA welcomes President Obama’s return to Phoenix to visit the VA hospital he bypassed 60 days ago, we are disappointed – but hardly surprised – that he has in effect punted the search for solutions to yet another ‘committee.’
“Perhaps the president has forgotten that the reforms he signed in to law 7 months ago mandated two independent commissions charged with conducting top-to-bottom reviews and submitting reports to the president on improving VA care. The need for yet another advisory entity is hard to justify and this appears to be nothing more than another attempt by the White House to give the appearance that President Obama is engaged on the issue of VA reform.
“America’s veterans don’t need another cosmetic study of the myriad of problems plaguing the VA. They want, need and deserve the health care choice they were promised, accountability for bad VA executives they expect, and a president who does more than offer empty rhetoric to America’s veterans and punts serious problems at the VA to someone else to solve.
“The good news is that CVA has already done the work for President Obama. Our recently released Veterans Independence Act proposes to strengthen the VA by putting veterans in charge of their own health care – not a VA bureaucrat. If President Obama and Secretary McDonald are truly serious about fixing the VA, CVA is ready and willing to work with them. But if they continue to stand in the way of true reform, stifle choice and listen only to those who have a stake in preserving the current broken system, they will be remembered for how they failed to put the needs of America’s veterans above the VA’s sprawling bureaucracy.”
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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 liberty we and our families so proudly fought and sacrificed to defend.