Beret saleman Shinseki in over his head

It’s a good thing Eric Shinseki isn’t working for a Republican administration or he’d be tarred and feathered and tethered to a railroad tie in front of his Vermont Avenue office at this writing. Lucky for him, Congress and the media carry water for Democrats;

“A plan was written, very quickly put together, uh, very short timelines,” declared VA Secretary Eric Shinseki to the US House Veterans Affairs Committee yesterday as to why the VA had screwed up the payments for veterans attempting to pursue higher education. “I’m looking at the certificates of eligibility uh being processed on 1 May and enrollments 6 July, checks having to flow through August. A very compressed time frame. And in order to do that, we essentially began as I arrived in January, uh, putting together the plan — reviewing the plan that was there and trying to validate it. I’ll be frank, when I arrived, uh, there were a number of people telling me this was simply not executable.”

So, instead of warning people, or negotiating temporary agreements with schools, or…well, anything, Shinseki let the dates chug up on him and then pass. Shinseki made empty promises to veterans that he had no intention to keep. From Stars and Stripes;

A number of “complications” caused the payment delays, Shinseki explained. One factor was VA officials underestimated the number of claim processors they needed by the Aug. 3 start date. Early estimates were based on processing time under the Montgomery GI Bill program, he said.

But processing Mongomery GI Bill payments involves two to three steps and takes an average of 15 minutes versus nine steps and more than an hour to process a Post-9/11 GI Bill application, Shinseki explained. Unlike Montgomery GI Bill benefits, Post-9/11 payments vary by school location and other unique factors.

Yeah, unique factors like having a blivet head for a DVA Secretary. The Congress members really wore his ass out for being an incompetent boob;

Both Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., committee chairman, and [Steve Buyer, R-Ind.] praised Shinseki for integrity and candor in promptly revealing and addressing problems that have surfaced at VA since he took charge last February.

“We think you’re doing a great job,” said Filner. “I know you were called a soldier’s soldier when you were in the Army. And now I’m calling you a veteran’s veteran.”

CNN blames veterans for applying for the benefits they earned;

The department became a victim of the success of its new education program for veterans who have served since September 2001. The claims became so backlogged that the VA was forced to issue more than $70 million in emergency funds to veterans who were still waiting for money for supplies and living needs, weeks into the school year.

The truth is; Shinseki and his staff could have done almost anything to curtail these problems, but instead they just smiled and waved at TV cameras until veterans got fed up with the pleasantries and broken promises.

The good news is that Congress finalized a bill to provide the DVA with funding for medical programs a year in advance. I’m betting that Shinseki will screw that up, too.

Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Congress sucks, Military issues, Veteran Health Care