[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 7043]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    BLATANT MISMANAGEMENT OF THE VA

  (Mr. FARENTHOLD asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FARENTHOLD. Mr. Speaker, I am outraged over reports involving the 
care of our veterans and the blatant mismanagement at the VA.
  We have made promises to our Nation's veterans, and, yet, wounded 
veterans are waiting months and even years, with some even dying due to 
backlogs at the VA.
  I found out yesterday a veteran in my district died from excessive 
delays because he was unable to get necessary heart surgery. Delays at 
the VA hospital in Phoenix may have led to additional deaths.
  Reportedly, VA officials have ordered hospital workers to shield this 
information in order to hide incredibly long waits. Workers at a VA 
clinic in Fort Collins, Colorado, were supposedly told to falsify 
appointment records to escape retribution for not meeting agency-
imposed goals. If they didn't do that, they were going to end up on a 
bad boys list.
  Mr. Speaker, if true, these reports demonstrate a serious problem 
within the VA. The brave Americans who served our country did not wait 
months or years to answer the call to protect our freedom. They deserve 
the best care that we can give them in a timely manner.
  Unfortunately, under current leadership at the VA, that seems 
impossible. If Secretary Shinseki can't get this done, President Obama 
needs to find somebody who can.

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