[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6313-6314]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 VETERANS ADMINISTRATION WHISTLEBLOWER

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, according to Kuauhtemoc Rodriguez, 
called K-Rod, a VA employee at the medical center in Phoenix, Arizona--
yes, that famous VA hospital--he has been threatened and harassed by 
the VA for speaking up about excessive wait times for vets to see 
doctors.
  In October of 2016, the VA's inspector general released a report of 
misconduct on the Phoenix hospital based on information provided by Mr. 
Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez alleged that more than 90 veterans had been 
waiting over 400 days to see a doctor, 5 of whom died before they could 
see the doctor. These accusations are very disturbing.

[[Page 6314]]

  But Mr. Rodriguez' discovery did not earn him a medal or a plaque, 
just threats and harassment by the VA. They even moved his desk to a 
closet.
  There are many folks at the VA who genuinely care about our veterans 
in this country, like K-Rod, but there seems to be a culture problem at 
the VA that must be addressed from the top down.
  Fix the problem rather than attack whistleblowers. No veteran should 
ever wait to see a doctor for over a year. That is shameful.
  And that is just the way it is.

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