A Page From Obama's Playbook: The BullChit Continues at VA

Everyone should remember the great fanfare when Robert McDonald was approved as Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary. Celebrity spokesman, Montel Williams appeared on "Your World with Neil Cavuto" said and I paraphrase "I'll give him 90 days". 

Its been six months and what has changed? NOT ONE DAMN THING!

Just as in the past, critters in congress and other politicians make promises, have hearings, spend money just to have Obama take it away, and still the same CHIT goes on.

Not only did Robert McDonald insult a decorated Marine and congressman, he has taken a page out of Boo Boo's book, lying on national T.V.

"Documents obtained by the Washington Free Beacon cast doubt on claims made Sunday by the secretary for veterans affairs that 60 people who manipulated wait time data have been fired by the agency over the last half-year.

Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald said on Sunday that the agency is improving and working toward holding officials accountable, firing 900 employees in the past six months.

“We’re making fundamental changes in the department. In terms of leadership, we’ve held accountable about 900 employees who are no longer with us, that were with us before,” McDonald said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

“900 people have been fired, since I became secretary. We’ve got 60 people that we fired who have manipulated wait times. We’ve got about 100 senior leaders who are under investigation now … so we’re holding people accountable.”

The appearance was McDonald’s first on a Sunday program since taking over the embattled agency in July 2014. McDonald replaced former-Secretary Eric Shinseki, who resigned after it was revealed that 40 veterans died while waiting to receive care at the Phoenix VA facility.

However, new documents obtained and viewed by the Washington Free Beacon raise questions about the information McDonald provided to NBC, specifically the claim that 60 employees were fired because they manipulated wait times.

According to these documents, as of Feb. 5, 2015, only 11 employees tied to wait time manipulations have been fired. (Union intervention?...OM)

The document, which was given to the Free Beacon by a Republican staffer, is sent to both the House and Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs for “official use only,” and “provides the Department’s weekly report on adverse employment actions initiated since June 3, 2014, on any basis related to patient scheduling, record manipulations, appointment delays, and/or patient deaths.”(What about how many Veterans were required to register their firearms?...OM)

The employees in the report are facing “adverse personnel actions,” which are either “proposed” or already “taken.”

The document lists the names of employees facing disciplinary action and their position title. For each employee, the report then notes the proposed disciplinary action, the date it was proposed, the action taken, and the effective date of each action.

Based on this report, from June 3, 2014, to February 5, 2015, the department has proposed a total of 74 personnel actions related to scheduling or record manipulation; five of them were actions against VA executives.

Eleven employees, three of whom held executive positions, are listed as having been removed. (That just 1.2% of the number that McDonald cited, Patriots should ask "what about the other 98.8%? Did they leave because of retirement, new jobs?...OM)

In other cases, employees are listed as resigning, being suspended, “demoted,” “admonished,” or “reprimanded.” In some cases, no disciplinary action was taken.

At least 15 cases are listed as “pending.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs did not respond to several requests for comment at press time.

Now is the time for McDonald to answer. "We (veterans) have served and defended our country. We were given a promise. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO KEEP THAT PROMISE?"...OM

Source: http://freebeacon.com/issues/documents-cast-doubt-on-claim-that-60-va-employees-have-been-fired-for-manipulating-wait-times/

Maybe V.A. Needs A Marine In Charge, Not a Civilian "Business" Man

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Wednesday asked a Republican lawmaker who served in both Iraq wars, "What have you done?" as the two men sparred over huge cost overruns at a troubled Denver VA hospital.

McDonald was defending the VA's budget at a hearing when he and Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman tussled over construction delays and cost increases at the long-delayed hospital project.

After a few minutes of arguing, McDonald snapped at Coffman: "I've run a large company, sir. What have you done?"

"McDonald was born on June 20, 1953 in Gary, Indiana, and grew up in Chicago. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering. At West Point he served as the Brigade—Adjutant for the Corps of Cadets and was awarded the Silver Medal from the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Army for 5 years, primarily in the 82nd Airborne Division, attaining the rank of Captain, and earned an MBA from the University of Utah in 1978. Upon leaving the military he received the Meritorious Service Medal."...OM

Coffman, an Army [sic Marine] veteran, did not respond at the hearing. But the four-term lawmaker said in a statement later that he could tell McDonald a few things he hasn't done.

Maybe Rep. Coffman, Maj-USMC won't respond but, this Marine will.

"Rep. Coffman enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1972, and was assigned to a mechanized infantry battalion. The following year, he earned a high school diploma through an Army program. Leaving active duty for the U.S. Army Reserve in 1974, he entered the University of Colorado, graduating in 1979 with a bachelor's degree in political science. He also studied at Vaishnav College in Chennai, India, and the University of Veracruz in Mexico for a year. Upon graduation from the University of Colorado, Coffman transferred from the Army Reserve to the United States Marine Corps in 1979, becoming an infantry officer (one of the hardest, most intensive training in the Armed Forces...OM). In 1983, he transferred from active duty to the Marine Reserves, serving until 1994. He was awarded the Combat Action Ribbon, the Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the US Navy Unit Commendation Ribbon, The Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal, the Meritorious Unit Commendation Ribbon and other theatre medals for combat service.In 1983, he created an Aurora, Colorado-based property management firm, serving as senior shareholder until 2000."(Isn't it more difficult to START a business then to "walk" into an all ready established industry?...OM)

"I have never run a federal agency that tolerates corruption the way the VA has. I've never built a hospital that's years behind schedule and hundreds of millions over budget. And I've never been a shill for inept bureaucrats who allowed American heroes to die on a medical waiting list," he said.

The last comment was a reference to a wait-time scandal that cost former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki his job. McDonald, a former Procter & Gamble CEO, took over as VA secretary in July. He has vowed to improve VA's delivery of services such as health care and disability benefits and make it a "model" for other government agencies.

The dust-up started when Coffman criticized the VA for citing its legal efforts to defend the Denver hospital project as a major accomplishment.

"How is that a success?" Coffman asked. "You lost that case on every single point for the hospital in my district that is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule."

"I think that that's just characteristic of your glossing over the extraordinary problems confronted by your department," Coffman added. "This is a department mired in bureaucratic incompetence and corruption."

McDonald said he was offended by Coffman's remarks and noted that he had only been on the job for six months.

"You've been here longer than I have. If there's a problem in Denver, I think you own it more than I do," he told Coffman.

McDonald then offered to give Coffman his cellphone, "and you can answer some of the calls and see if I'm making a difference for veterans."

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/02/11/va-secretary-asks-iraq-war-veteran-what-have-done/?intcmp=latestnews

Obama Says He Cares for the Veterans? How? By Stripping Funds?

Obama wants to strip funding from veterans' medical choice program

President Obama’s 2016 budget blueprint proposes rolling back a program that gives veterans the right to receive faster care outside of the long waitlists at the troubled Veterans Affairs medical system. (The Emperor giveth, The Emperor taketh away....OM)

Obama signed the Veterans Choice Program into law in August following months of partisan wrangling on Capitol Hill that finally led to a compromise measure to overhaul the agency.

The Veterans Choice Program was a key GOP provision in the deal.

Authored by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the measure provides “choice” cards to veterans that can be used to obtain medical care at designated facilities outside of the VA system.

But Obama announced Monday he’ll send a legislative proposal to Congress that would allow the VA to raid the program's funding, now set at $10 billion.

Obama, in his fiscal 2016 spending blueprint, said the money is needed “to support essential investments in VA system priorities in a fiscally responsible, budget-neutral manner.”

Obama has requested a nearly 8 percent boost in funding for the beleaguered VA in 2016, for a total of $70.2 billion in discretionary spending. (Discretionary spending? Like bonuses for Union members that do substandard work, sounds like KY State government. OR for over budgeted VA center, should make people wonder what unions are involved in that boondoggle OR Big Screen T.V.s for information...OM)

Democrats have pushed for additional money for the VA to pay for new hospitals (Payback for Unions or BRIBES to UNIONS...OM) and more doctors, but Republicans contend that waste and mismanagement are the primary problems facing the VA, and the Choice Program gives vets a chance to escape the dysfunction by allowing them to receive outside medical care.

Veterans groups were angered by the move to divert funding from the program, noting that Obama had touted the legislation to reform the VA in the months leading up to the November election and did not express opposition to the choice cards.(Key phrase "leading up to the November election", REMEMBER the Socialist Clown in Chief & his minions will say ANYTHING to get elected....OM)

The program was funded to last until 2017 but would end sooner if money is diverted, critics said.

“That money was specifically allocated by him for the choice program,” Dan Caldwell, the legislative director for Concerned Veterans for America, told the Washington Examiner. “What that would do is cause the choice program to be a lot shorter and to inevitably serve fewer veterans.”

But in a conference call with reporters on Monday, officials with the Department of Veterans Affairs defended the move. They said the choice program was underused, and that many of the 8.6 million veterans who received cards said they would rather obtain care at VA facilities.

“What we are getting ... is that they are looking for more care within the VA system,” Helen Tierney, assistant VA secretary for management and the VA’s chief financial officer, said.

But veterans groups say the choice program rollout has been hindered by red tape, including a requirement that those who receive a choice card call the VA to determine whether they are actually eligible to use it.

Officials at the VA said they don’t know how much money they would like to shift from the program. Tierney said the VA has made “a tremendous number of calls to veterans,” and that the use rates are “much lower than anticipated.”

Tierney, however, said she did not know the specific use rates.

Republicans on Capitol Hill denounced the move and said they’d reject it.

“The president’s idea to reallocate a portion of Veterans Choice Program funding to other areas of VA is a complete non-starter, which I will not support,” House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., said. “When a near-unanimous Congress worked with President Obama last year to create the choice program, we made a promise to veterans to give them more freedom in their healthcare decisions. I will not stand idly by while the president attempts to renege on that promise.” (Everyone needs to REMEMBER, last year was an election year and does ANYONE really expect anything different from those critters, BOTH sides, seeking power. Not much difference from celebrities and "talking heads" who express outrage over the treatment/lack of treatment of American Veterans, then crickets....OM)

Source: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/obama-wants-to-strip-funding-from-veterans-medical-choice-program/article/2559681?custom_click=rss