President Obama’s Refusal To Visit Phoenix VA Reveals Lack of Concern, Leadership on VA Reform
Arlington, Va. – While in Arizona, President Obama today refused to visit the Phoenix VA hospital that was at the epicenter of the VA wait scandal, instead deciding to make a surprise visit to a home in south Phoenix for a political photo op. On the way to his next event, his motorcade drove directly past the VA hospital.
Earlier in the week, upon learning of the president’s trip to Phoenix did not include a visit to the VA hospital, Concerned Veterans for America, Senator John McCain, and a number of reporters put pressure on the administration to show its leadership on the issue of VA reform.
Pete Hegseth, CEO of CVA, issued the following statement:
“President Obama’s decision to make time for a photo-op during his brief visit to Phoenix instead of visiting the VA hospital at the epicenter of last year’s VA scandal is shameful, but tragically consistent with much of this administration’s action on veterans’ issues to date.
“The president’s decision to bypass the Phoenix VA hospital—when his motorcade drove directly past it—is a slap in the face to veterans. For months veterans have been waiting, not only for their appointments and benefits, but for their president to show leadership and true concern for fixing the VA. But with veterans in front of the hospital urging he visit, President Obama made abundantly clear that their fate and the VA scandal are now literally in his rear view mirror.
“If this administration wanted to show that it really cared about bringing accountability to the Department of Veterans Affairs and ensuring veterans got the care they deserve, President Obama would, and should, find a few minutes to visit a VA and speak to employees and patients—something he hasn’t done even once since the scandal broke. The president could have taken this undeniably convenient opportunity to show his willingness to take the lead in fixing the VA, but instead has once again chosen to make time for posturing, and not for veterans.”
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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.