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Rush to Oust Veterans Affairs Chief Meets High-Level Resistance
Boehner and Pelosi Resist Cries for Ouster of Veterans Affairs Chief
(about 2 hours later)
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan rush to demand the resignation of the secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Eric Shinseki, collided Thursday with efforts by leaders in both parties to quiet the politics and find a legislative solution to the crisis of care at veterans’ health centers.
WASHINGTON — As the list of lawmakers calling for the resignation of Eric Shinseki as secretary of veterans affairs grew by the hour Thursday, leaders in both parties worked to quiet the politics and find a legislative solution to the crisis of care at veterans’ health centers.
As a rising chorus of lawmakers from both parties clamored for Mr. Shinseki to step down, House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the minority leader, both said Thursday that replacing the secretary of veterans’ affairs would not solve the core issue of onerous wait times and secret waiting lists at veterans affairs health centers around the country. The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said President Obama’s position had not changed since he stood by the four-star general he made veterans affairs secretary at the beginning of his administration.
Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, and the minority leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, both said that replacing Mr. Shinseki would not solve the core issue of unacceptable wait times and secret waiting lists at Department of Veterans Affairs health centers around the country.
And Stewart Hickey, national executive director of Amvets, the veterans service organization, practically hijacked a political-style rally of House Republicans when he pleaded that “cutting off the head of the monster” would not solve the problems veterans are facing.
But at least 100 members of Congress, including almost a dozen Senate Democrats, have called for Mr. Shinseki to step down. His fate could be determined as early as Friday by the results of an internal audit to assess the breadth of misconduct at veterans hospitals that he will deliver to the president.
But words of temperance appeared to hold little sway over some 80 lawmakers who called for Mr. Shinseki’s head, including seven Senate Democrats, six of whom are trying to hold their seats this November.
The findings of the audit, coming just days after a scathing investigation by the department’s inspector general, are likely to further erode Mr. Shinseki’s rapidly crumbling support.
“Secretary Shinseki has served our country honorably over many decades, but in the interest of regaining the trust of our veterans, and implementing real and lasting reforms, I believe it is time for him to step aside and allow new leadership to take the helm at the V.A. to correct these failings immediately,” said Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina, one of those Democrats.
White House aides declined to say whether Mr. Obama plans to seek Mr. Shinseki’s resignation before the president’s announcement of new climate regulations on Monday and his trip to Europe next week. But Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, repeatedly refused to say that the president still has confidence in Mr. Shinseki.
Beneath the political posturing, Republicans and Democrats were grappling with the very future of veterans’ health care — whether the constellation of government-owned-and-run medical centers should be expanded to cope with millions of young servicemembers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan or whether care for such veterans should increasingly be privatized.
Mr. Shinseki was getting support from some quarters. Stewart Hickey, national executive of Amvets, the veterans service organization, pleaded with House Republicans that “cutting off the head of the monster” would not solve the problems veterans are facing.
House Republicans readied legislation that would send veterans who have waited for care for 30 days or more to private physicians on the V.A.'s dime. Senate Democrats were drafting a bill to fund as many as 27 new V.A. health facilities and offer new incentives for doctors to work for the V.A. And members of both parties were grappling with some middle ground that would maintain the core functions of the V.A.'s health centers, such as post-traumatic stress treatment, amputation care, and traumatic brain injury assistance, while bringing on new private resources to deal with crippling waiting lists.
But the words of temperance held little sway with lawmakers. “Secretary Shinseki has served our country honorably over many decades, but in the interest of regaining the trust of our veterans, and implementing real and lasting reforms, I believe it is time for him to step aside and allow new leadership to take the helm at the V.A. to correct these failings immediately,” said Senator Kay Hagan, Democrat of North Carolina, who is facing a difficult re-election fight in a state with a large military presence.
Even legislators who want to see Mr. Shinseki go acknowledge that a change at the top of the V.A. will do little to resolve problems of wait times and access to care that the inspector general’s report noted go back at least to 2005 — and could even slow progress.
Representative Jeff Miller of Florida, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, had resisted calling for Mr. Shinseki’s resignation for days, saying it would turn attention first to the search for a successor, then to confirmation hearings, and finally it would force a “honeymoon” period to let the new secretary get a team in place and start fresh. Then this week he changed course.
“Look, they are not going to get a honeymoon,” Mr. Miller promised Thursday.
Beyond the Shinseki debate, Republicans and Democrats are grappling with a more profound issue, the future of veterans’ health care, that goes to the core of their political identities: Should the collection of government-owned-and-run medical centers be expanded to cope with millions of young service members returning from Iraq or Afghanistan? Or should care for such veterans increasingly be privatized?
“Veterans are caught in a philosophical argument between people who want to get rid of the V.A. entirely and people who think the V.A. is wonderful,” said Paul Rieckhoff, chief executive and founder of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “Maybe there will be some newfound urgency for compromise around a clear strategic, military and real priority. Maybe we can unite this country around one big thing: caring for our veterans.”
House Republicans readied legislation that would send veterans who have waited for care for 30 days or more to private physicians, at the V.A.’s expense.
Senate Democrats were drafting a far more complex bill. To alleviate the short-term crisis, it would allow veterans to get private care paid for by the V.A., access Department of Defense health centers, Indian Health Services and federally licensed community health centers. Longer term, it would fund 27 new V.A. facilities and advance a partnership between the department and the National Health Service, offering medical students scholarships or loan forgiveness in exchange for five years of service at V.A. facilities, said Senator Bernard Sanders, independent of Vermont and chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
“If there’s any silver lining in this horrendous situation, maybe the country will focus on the crisis of primary care throughout our health system,” he said. Mr. Sanders said he planned to have a new version ready by the June 5 hearings on the crisis.
Members of both parties were seeking some middle ground that would maintain and bolster the core functions of the V.A.’s health centers, such as post-traumatic stress treatment, amputation and blindness care, and traumatic brain injury assistance, while bringing on new private resources to deal with onerous waiting lists.
“The question I ask myself is, ‘Is him resigning going to get us to the bottom of the problem? Is it going to help us find out what’s really going on?’ And the answer I keep getting is no,” Mr. Boehner told reporters. “This is more than just about phony waiting lists. This is also about the quality of care we provide for our veterans.”
“The question I ask myself is, ‘Is him resigning going to get us to the bottom of the problem? Is it going to help us find out what’s really going on?’ And the answer I keep getting is no,” Mr. Boehner told reporters. “This is more than just about phony waiting lists. This is also about the quality of care we provide for our veterans.”
Ms. Pelosi said she had “no problem” tapping private care at federally certified health centers, but, she said, money would be needed to train more primary care doctors and attract them into the V.A. system, perhaps through student debt forgiveness.
Ms. Pelosi said she had “no problem” tapping private care at federally certified health centers, but, she said, more money would be needed to train more primary care doctors and attract them into the V.A. system, perhaps through student debt forgiveness.
“Endless war abroad has its costs at home,” she said.
“Endless war abroad has its costs at home,” she said.
With shockingly long wait times at some facilities eliciting bipartisan condemnation, the next steps from Congress will hold significant ramifications for veterans’ health care — and government-run health care broadly.
Mr. Sanders and Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, also said there could be compromise. New department facilities could be placed inside community hospitals or federally licensed community care centers. In Alaska, veterans already have access to federal Indian Health Centers, Mr. Sanders noted.
“Certainly we ought to address the issue of personnel who made mistakes and falsified records, but that’s not going to solve the problems of veterans who’ve had to wait for so long,” Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said. “We have to look at the underlying problems.”
But such glimpses of bipartisan pragmatism may be swamped by the politics of an election year. The Republican National Committee tried to blame Hillary Rodham Clinton for the department’s problems, while beginning fund-raising efforts off the scandal. The National Republican Congressional Committee hit Mr. Obama for his response to the crisis above a tab on its website reading, “Help fight liberals by donating today.”
The scandal was amplified Wednesday with the release of a report by the department’s inspector general that found wide-ranging and “systemic” abuses of its waiting lists to mask the problems of long wait times for care. The investigation’s preliminary report found that 1,700 veterans at the agency’s medical facility in Phoenix were left off the official waiting list and that wait times were systematically understated.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee went after Republicans for their “shameful, anti-veteran” records, even as it denounced the politicization of the V.A. issue.
The five other Democratic senators who have called for Mr. Shinseki’s resignation are: Mark Udall of Colorado, John Walsh of Montana, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Al Franken of Minnesota and Mark Warner of Virginia. Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, added his voice to the growing chorus. He and Mr. Walsh are the Senate’s only combat veterans.
Republicans have been careful to avoid any talk of dismantling the V.A. But Representative Duncan Hunter, Republican of California, did pointedly say he sought private health care for a shoulder injury he sustained in the Iraq War.
“The systemic problems at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are so entrenched that they require new leadership to be fixed,” Mr. Udall said. “Secretary Shinseki must step down.”
“I chose not to go to the V.A. because the V.A. does not work,” he said.
On Thursday afternoon, the House Veterans Affairs subcommittee on disability assistance will hold a hearing on the agency’s performance transitioning service members to civilian life, a usually dry affair likely to be consumed with attention over the issue of wait times at veterans’ health care centers.
In the House, Representative Jeff Miller of Florida, a Republican and chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, and Representative Howard (Buck) McKeon of California, a Republican and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, also said Mr. Shinseki should step down. For weeks, Mr. Miller had said a change at the top would only shift attention from the changes needed to address the underlying problems.
The “report makes it painfully clear that the V.A. does not always have our veterans’ backs,” said Paul Rieckhoff, chief executive and founder of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
How to fix the problem, however, is a broader political issue that leaves both parties with a fundamental question: Does Congress expand a government health program to deal with a net increase of a million and a half new veterans, their ranks swollen by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or does it move toward a privatized health system?
“Veterans are caught in a philosophical argument between people who want to get rid of the V.A. entirely and people who think the V.A. is wonderful,” Mr. Rieckhoff said. “Maybe there will be some newfound urgency for compromise around a clear strategic, military and real priority. Maybe we can unite this country around one big thing: caring for our veterans.”
Ms. Pelosi said she had no problem with the call by House Republicans to channel more veterans into private care to lessen the backlog. But, she said, “We have to think in a bigger way.”
That might mean new incentives to train primary care physicians, student debt forgiveness for primary care doctors who choose to work at the V.A., and more extensive use of federally accredited community health centers.
Most veterans organizations are leery of more vouchers for private care, maintaining that the Department of Veterans Affairs has expertise unmatched outside the system in areas such as traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, amputee care and other combat-related ailments. Senator Bernard Sanders, independent of Vermont and chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are overwhelming facilities in the Southwest and South. And, he noted, the nation’s entire health care system is facing acute shortages of primary care physicians, so vouchers may not relieve the backlog.
Merritt Hawkins, a health care consulting firm, found this year that the average wait time to see a family physician in 15 markets studied was 19.5 days, longer than Mr. Shinseki’s goal of 14 days to access care at the department.
“Do we have the staffing to achieve that goal?” Mr. Sanders asked. “In some parts of the country, clearly we do not.”
Senate legislation written by Democrats in February that would have expanded the department’s health system with 27 new facilities fell to a filibuster over its cost. But Democrats are betting that Republicans who have focused on the wait times as a scandal will not be able to vote similar legislation down again. Mr. Sanders plans to have a new bill ready by the June 5 hearings on the crisis.
Mr. Miller, his House counterpart, will introduce voucher legislation this week with the backing of Speaker Boehner, Republican of Ohio. Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesman, said vouchers to help veterans seek help from private caregivers would be the fastest remedy for thousands of veterans unable to get their initial appointments with department physicians.
“Building new facilities is not a lickety-split affair,” he said. “The issue will be whether Senate Democrats can stand in the way of the immediate relief that the House is offering.”
Mr. Sanders and Senator Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, the ranking Republican on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said there could be compromise. New department facilities could be located inside community hospitals or federally licensed community care centers. In Alaska, veterans already have access to federal Indian Health Centers.
“It’s time to look at the existing model and ask ourselves, ‘Is this the right model for the 21st century?' ” Mr. Burr said.
