Faith in Agency Clouded Bernie Sanders’s V.A. Response

[wyldwolf]

There were reports of secret waiting lists to hide long delays in care. Whistle-blowers said as many as 40 veterans had died waiting for appointments. And Congress was demanding answers.

Despite mounting evidence of trouble at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Senator Bernie Sanders, then the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, initially regarded the complaints as overblown, and as a play by conservatives to weaken one of the country’s largest social welfare institutions.

“There is, right now, as we speak, a concerted effort to undermine the V.A.,” Mr. Sanders said two weeks after the story was picked up by national news organizations. “You have folks out there now — Koch brothers and others — who want to radically change the nature of society, and either make major cuts in all of these institutions, or maybe do away with them entirely.”

But the scandal deepened: The secretary of veterans affairs resigned. Reports showed major problems at dozens of V.A. hospitals. And an Obama administration review revealed “significant and chronic systemic leadership failures” in the hospital system.

“His ideological perspective blurred his ability to recognize the operational reality of what was happening at the V.A.,” said Paul Rieckhoff, the founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “The reality was that he was one of the last people to publicly recognize the gravity of the situation.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/us/politics/faith-in-agency-clouded-bernie-sanderss-va-response.html?_r=0

[HassleCat]

1. Who was the very last person to recognize the gravity?

The president, perhaps? The VA is part of the administration, after all, not actually operated by Congress. Which president? I don't know, but I would guess this started under Bush and continued into Obama's administration. Interesting how this is being blamed on Sanders.

[wyldwolf]

2. Read much?

Your response had very little to do with the point of the story.

[HassleCat]

3. Oh, you're NOT blaming Sanders.

My bad. I apologize, then.

[wyldwolf]

4. for the crises? No one is.

For ignoring and denying there was a problem? Yeah, he did.

[wyldwolf]

5. Another more scathing take...

While he was on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, Sanders ‘believed in government, and he believed in it to a fault,’ a congressional source said—and it prevented him from fixing the VA.

Bernie Sanders’s tenure as chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee was characterized by glaring neglect of his oversight responsibilities, allowing the 2014 VA scandal to unfold under his watch, veterans’ rights advocates argue.

Sanders has touted his work on veterans’ issues, most recently citing his involvement in “the most comprehensive VA health care bill in this country,” in a debate Thursday.

Left unsaid however, is that he was the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, responsible for overseeing the Department of Veterans Affairs, as the scandal erupted.

Dozens of veterans died while waiting for medical care at Phoenix Veterans Health Administration facilities, a scandal CNN broke in the spring of 2014. The imbroglio spread with reports of secret waiting lists at other VA hospitals, possibly leading to dozens more preventable deaths.

He held one-sixth of the hearings on oversight that his House of Representatives counterpart held. Republicans griped that they had made multiple requests for more oversight hearings, but received no response. A news host even challenged Sanders as the scandal erupted, saying he sounded more like a lawyer for the VA than the man responsible for overseeing it.

“We feel that he did not live up to his responsibilities as SVAC chairman to provide oversight into this. He keeps hiding behind the mantle [of the title]. And yes, he did pass the $15 billion piece of legislation, but that’s… akin to closing the barn door after the chickens have escaped,” said Matthew Miller, the chief policy officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

Even as the scandal was breaking, Sanders was challenged for his defense of the VA.

“You sound like a lawyer defending the hospital, as opposed to a senator trying to make sure the right thing is done,” CNN host Chris Cuomo lectured Sanders as the scandal unraveled.

It was his progressive worldview that blinded him to the problems of the VA, some veterans advocates argued, and it prevented him from seeing the problem as it emerged.

Sanders, some veterans’ rights workers say, wanted to believe that the VA was a model for government-run health care.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/05/the-veterans-scandal-on-bernie-sanders-s-watch.html

[blm]

6. I agree w/Sanders, because GOP exaggerating matters for political gain has been so commonplace

over the last two decades it is generally safe to assume they are in that mode continuously. This is no strike against Sanders.

In this particular case, the GOP is exaggerating the responsibility of Democrats to obscure from the fact that they and their GOP administrations and GOP congress have been setting up the VA for failure for as long as I can remember.

Between budget freezes and making more seriously injured and damaged vets with their wars of choice, I put this where it belongs - at least 90% on GOP.

[wyldwolf]

7. that might be valid for anyone other than the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee

He was asleep at the wheel.

[blm]

8. There are many times when lawmakers don't live up perfectly in their duties. I am tiring of

both sides trying to make hay out of it and employing GOP talking points while doing so. Newsflash: HRC has flaws and so does Sanders.

I have been very careful to stay out of the fray, but, today has been an especially illustrative posting day for the BS tactics being used…..and I truly mean when I say BOTH SIDES.

My primary vote is for Sanders and I will make it gladly. If my general vote is for Clinton I will make it gladly. And I have plenty of information to make those votes.

[wyldwolf]

9. "I am tiring of View profile both sides trying to make hay..."

I'm looking forward to your "play nice" finger-wagging in other threads.

[blm]

10. I just participated in a lengthy finger wagging with the 'other' side….

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1156319

The alleged supporter sure sounded like he wanted us to believe that Murdoch was a big supporter of HRC and was truly so worried that he floated Kerry to jump in.

That was a No Sale, too.

Yeah - I am tired of the unnecessary part of the 'fray'.

[wyldwolf]

11. kick