Page 47 - Va System News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

But memorial day is coming up. we have senators coast to coast wearing flag pins. but during your course in washington, what percentage of constituent services are devoted to va, to veterans? i would assume it is a high percentage of complaints and yet little has occurred over the years to truly improve the va. why? >> mike, i can tell you what has happened. a dramatic increase in va activity with the disability claims coming in from iraq and afghanistan. many of the men and women who would have died on the battlefield are brought back and go through an amazing reconstructive surgery and thera...

This government for services promised and they are not given those services in a timely professional way, period. let me say this as well. if general shinseki were gone tomorrow, the challenge at the va would still be there. we've got to make certain that everyone is pulling together. it's easy to point fingers of blame and say if one person goes, that ought to solve the problem. it is more than that. it is a challenge to a system but a promise we've made that it's going to work. these men and women are the costs of war. their treatment and all of the help they need are the real costs of war w...

This is an area where democrats and republicans should always be working together. which brings me to my final point. even as we get to bottom of what happened at phoenix and other facilities, all of us whether here in washington or all across the country, have to stay focused on the larger mission, which is upholding our sacred trust to all of our veterans bringing the va system into the 21st century, which is not an easy task. we have made progress over the last five years. we've made historic investments in our veterans. we've boosted va funding to record levels and we created consistency t...

Could have been happening on such a large scale? >> yes, i did. i talked to team in spokane and also in albuquerque, so i knew it was going on everywhere else as well. >> it's not a surprise to you? >> no, no, ma'am. >> what does it tell you about the system? did you speak up when it was happening? you spoke to other people in other facilities. what was the discussion? >> well, basically that the problem is that if the director of the local hospital director turns in good number to the veterans and graded service network director, they look good. if the numbers go to washington and congress as...

The widening scandal, president obama finally saw fit to speak about it today. it's wholly insufficient. as a medal of honor recipient and someone who served in vietnam, was wounded in vietnam, dealt with the va system in medical procedure after procedure, what is your response to what happened today? >> well, i think john mccain -- i don't always agree with him, but he had a very interesting point there. and that is, that the response itself is effectively too little, too late. that the president should have been talking about this for a long time, ever since it began. don't forget, we had bi...