On CNN’s “AC360” on Thursday, House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL) warned that it will taking more than just relieving current embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shenseki to overcome the agency’s hospital woes.
Miller told host Anderson Cooper it would take a top-to-bottom shakeup to accomplish the needed overhaul.
Partial transcript as follows:
COOPER: Mr. Chairman, let me start with you. After yesterday’s preliminary inspector general’s report revealing what is clearly, obviously disturbingly systematic practices at the VA, you called for Shenseki’s resignation. How in your opinion will that help solve the problems at the VA?
MILLER: It’s not going to solve the problem. I have said it for a long time that this is much larger than one man. Secretary Shinseki has obviously lost the ability to lead his agency. Nothing is going to change with the secretary being gone. But that is still no reason to leave him in place.
COOPER: And in terms of who would replace the general at this somebody outside the VA?
MILLER: Well, that is the president’s decision. This is a choice the president is going to making. Either you stick with the status quo or you bring somebody that is going to shake up the system from the very bottom to top. And unfortunately, you have a bureaucracy out there today that will not listen to their leadership. The secretary — I have been telling him for years, is being poorly served by the mid-level management. These are the people that have been making the line folks change numbers and manipulate the dates.
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