Shinseki to face Senate committee
Department of Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki will face the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee today to explain the countless failures of his agency. From NBC News;
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki must answer to Congress over allegations that 40 veterans may have died while waiting for care from a Phoenix VA hospital.
Whistleblowers at the hospital claim supervisors shredded a secret waiting list that buried how long hundreds of veterans were forced to wait before getting treatment. In some cases, it was allegedly months.
Of course, This Ain’t Hell will represented at the grilling of the Secretary since TSO will be in the room. Concerned Veterans for America send us their 10 questions that they say Shinseki must answer;
He should be prepared to answer broader questions about VA performance and administration, and to address the need for reform. Here are 10 questions veterans, their families and taxpayers would like to see Secretary Shinseki address when he testifies Thursday:
1. Since there are now credible allegations from at least five VA facilities that employees manipulated data to make wait times appear shorter, why should we not assume this practice is common to many more, or all, VA facilities?
2. Given the allegations of manipulation of records at various VA facilities, how can we trust any data reported by the VA?
3. VA officials have received generous performance bonuses in recent years, but we are now learning that those bonuses may have been based upon fraudulent reporting. What consequences will VA employees who engaged in this fraud face?
4. You have claimed you have the managerial and administrative tools you need to enact the necessary change at the VA. Why have you not done so? Why has nobody in senior management been fired?
5. What are you doing to build a culture where people are held accountable for their mistakes?
6. There are 110 outstanding requests for information from VA for the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Why does it take so long to provide information? How can you expect problems to be fixed when you withhold information from committees that are looking to help?
7. VA is the second largest federal department. Do you believe that the department is too big to be managed successfully? Why or why not?
8. What protections against whistleblowers does the VA have to ensure that those who come forward to speak about malfeasance do not face retribution or retaliation?
9. During your years of service in the U.S. Army, a common command principle held that leaders who failed to perform, or who maintained command over failing missions, are to be replaced. Why does that standard not apply at the VA?
10. Leading veterans organizations have called for your resignation from the department, suggesting as significant decline in trust from the veterans’ community. What do you plan to do to rebuild that trust?
I don’t see much coming out of the hearings except Shinseki being portrayed as some sort of hero of the Left and this President because he’s doing exactly what he was hired to accomplish.
Category: Veterans' Affairs Department
According to the news this morning, the national embarrassment known as Shinseki will be doing his master’s bidding in front of Congress. Apparently, he intends to withhold a great deal of information under the guise of it being part of an “ongoing investigation”.
I hope Congress slaps his ass with a subpoena to present ALL of that evidence and then holds him in contempt if he fails to produce it.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Army, a new 2LT, fresh from the COL’s office over a royal ass chewing over a lost canteen and set of TA 50 one of his Privates lost is, watching this and deciding that doing the right thing is getting him nowhere. If the men at the top aren’t accountable for their troops actions, why should junior leadership be?
This is what happens when products of a decaying culture are left unchecked.
And said COL is boinking one of the LT’s.
I suspect the esteemed democratic senators will be all to happy to suck the farts out of Shinseki’s underpants…
It would be nice if AW1 Tim is correct and they kick his ass hard, but I won’t be holding my breath.
Yeah, like I really expect a tough grilling from this senate. The hardest part for Shinseki will be trying to keep a straight face during the questioning. What a bootlicking bastard.
Fraud Waste and Abuse:
http://freebeacon.com/issues/va-spends-close-to-500-million-on-conference-room-office-makeovers-under-obama/
I’m watching this on CSPAN right now, and, if you ever admired Shinseki, this will cure you. He’s sadly out of his depth. The only way he can salvage any shred of dignity is to resign from the post right there in the committee hearing and run from the room in tears.
Yeah, but equally out of their depth are the people asking the questions / making statements.
I am sick of hearings like this being political forums.
But you are right. Seldom can I remember a less prepared witness than Shinseki.