[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 83 (Friday, May 30, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H5059]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RESIGNATION OF ERIC SHINSEKI

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, for years, I have struggled with the VA 
bureaucracy in my region. There are attempts to downgrade the Roseburg 
Hospital. We are still fighting over adequate status and staffing. It 
took 6 years after I got funding for a critical new VA clinic in Eugene 
for them to break ground so we can get expanded services in staffing. 
Day in and day out my staff and I have to push the VA to get our 
veterans the benefits they have earned and the services they deserve.
  Now we find that these problems were systemic and nationwide. It is 
right that General Shinseki has resigned, but that is just the 
beginning of the housecleaning and the reform we need in the Veterans 
Administration to see that they become an organization that is totally 
oriented toward serving our veterans and getting them the services they 
have earned and they deserve. Veterans shouldn't have to fight, they 
shouldn't have to wait in line. We can do better, and we must.

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