Daines Calls for VA Secretary Shinseki to Resign

Press Release

Representative Steve Daines today called for the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Eric Shinseki to resign, following recent reports of VA hospitals purposely hiding delays in treatments and problems resulting in preventable deaths of veterans awaiting health care services.

Earlier this week, Daines called on the VA to quickly provide the nation's veterans with answers regarding these reports and to hold VA leaders accountable. Today, Daines joined several national veterans organizations in formally calling for Secretary Shinseki to step down as the leader of the VA.

"Our nation's veterans deserve the best--and when our nation's fails to deliver, our veterans deserve answers. Unfortunately, the VA has yet to adequately address the problems and lack of accountability plaguing several VA health centers and has failed to hold the responsible parties accountable for these unacceptable actions," Daines stated."Calling for Secretary Shinseki's resignation is a decision I do not take lightly. But leadership starts at the top, and the failure of the VA to swiftly address these problems and uphold the standards of accountability and oversight that our veterans deserve is a clear indication that things must change."

Earlier this week, the American Legion and Concerned Veterans for America called on Secretary Shinseki to resign following reports that health facilities in Arizona and Colorado had deliberately concealed delays leading to preventable veteran deaths and falsified documents to cover up delays.

Daines' call for Secretary Shinseki's resignation comes just days after a roundtable discussion Daines held with Bozeman-area veterans representing the Vietnam Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and American Legion Posts #14 and #30. Persistent delays in receiving VA health care services and a lack of accountability at the VA were major topics of conversation during Monday's roundtable at the American Legion in Bozeman.

Daines has long called for reforms to address longstanding delays in addressing veterans' benefits claims and to ensure that the VA more efficiently and effectively meets Montana veterans' needs.

Last week, Daines helped pass the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill, which provides $7.5 billion for programs designed to address veterans' mental health needs and increases funding for suicide prevention outreach by $20 million.

The legislation directs the VA to provide a detailed expenditure plan for all suicide outreach programs within 30 days after the bill is signed and strongly encourages the VA to maximize the availability of mental health services to veterans who were victims of sexual assault.

The bill works to modernize and better facilitate interoperability between the DoD and VA electronic health records system by adopting reforms comparable to those found in the 21st Century Health Care for Heroes Act (H.R. 2590), which Daines co-sponsored.

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