Top 10 Biggest VA Embarrassments of the 114th Congress -

File this under the "You Have Got to Be Kidding Me" section of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) newspaper headline scrapbook: "Report: VA staff left veteran's body in shower nine hours, tried to hide mistakes." My visceral reaction to this story was that this might be the worst story about VA I had read since coming to Congress.

However, after performing a deeper dive into the stories that have been written about VA over the last two years, I was reminded that VA has a sad recent history of disturbing failures that have been met with little to no response from the Obama Administration.

My search for the worst gave birth to my "Top 10 Biggest VA Embarrassments of the 114th Congress." Before I give you the list, I want to make the important point that the vast majority of VA's 330,000 employees are good people who want to do right by our veterans.

In Little Rock we have some of the most dedicated employees you can find (many of whom are veterans themselves); however, the reputation of their entire outfit is damaged each time a small number of those employees are found to be acting outside of the rules for personal gain. In the case of employees manipulating patient data for personal gain, it took intense media scrutiny for the VA to discipline those responsible, as it seemed VA leadership was content to turn a blind eye to these chronic and repeated failings.

Worst VA Headlines

10) VA Drops Millions on Delayed Solar Power Projects (Washington Free Beacon)
Note: Revealed after Senator John Boozman and I called for an investigation into VA's Green Management Program.

9) "Budget-Crunched' VA Has 167 Interior Designers On Staff (Daily Caller)

8) Internal documents show Indianapolis VA offered to "protect' employee after email mocking veteran suicide (WISH Indianapolis)

7) VA mix-up upends life of Arkansas veteran (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

6) Feds Put Credit Card Felon In Charge of Major VA Purchasing Program (Daily Caller)

5) The Unfinished VA Hospital That's More Than $1 Billion Over Budget (NPR)

4) Exclusive: VA shuffles managers, declares "new leadership' (USA Today)

3) VA Nurse Still On Payroll Despite Charge He Beat 70-Year-Old Vet To Death (Daily Caller)

2) Report: VA staff left veteran's body in shower nine hours, tried to hide mistakes (Tampa Bay Times)

1) Hundreds of Wisconsin VA dental patients possibly exposed to HIV, hepatitis (CNN)

Each of these stories represents a major failure on the part of VA and its leadership. While each one of these stories adds its own unique insight to the problems at VA, one thing that remains consistent in all of them is that no one receives the level of discipline needed to deter future employees from making similar mistakes.

The next VA Secretary needs to understand that unless strict accountability standards are put in place, then VA will not be able to successfully provide the care needed and the negative media attention and congressional scrutiny will only strengthen.

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