“In addition, President Obama’s administration failed to eliminate the VA disability claims back log – despite years of promises from him to do so”.
Advertisement
“We have an absolute duty to ensure those who’ve worn our nation’s uniform have a place to call home”, said Julián Castro, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Concerned Veterans for America begs to differ. Benefits are now available for more than 2 million veterans, who before didn’t have access, while telemedicine has improved access to veterans in rural areas.
Obama’s rosy view of the “reformed” VA was blasted by Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), one of the groups subsidized by the Koch Brothers.
“There’s got to be reform at the VA”, Isakson said, adding: “One of the problems that VA leadership has had is the inability to affect change at the agency and have the type of accountability of the agency’s management that they really need”. The legislation’s fate is uncertain in this bitter, unpredictable election year.
President Obama’s remarks were a strong and sharp contrast to those of the Republican nominee.
In November 2007, then-U.S. Senator Obama vowed to overhaul this agency – blistering the record of his predecessor, George W. Bush.
The president also saluted the work of Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert A. McDonald. He said VA wait time data was “still misleading”, whistleblower retaliation is “still a major problem” and poor performance was continuing despite a VA budget that has almost quadrupled since 2001.
“No war should ever be forgotten and no veteran should ever be overlooked”, he continued.
Obama is addressing the annual convention of the Disabled American Veterans in Atlanta.
“That’s what Bob and so many hardworking people at the VA are doing”, he said. Thousands of doctors, nurses, clinicians, mental health care providers have been hired.
But he said the health care side “remains to be fixed” and noted the recent conclusion by a congressionally mandated commission that the department continues to have “profound deficiencies” in delivering health care to millions of veterans. “Fix it. But don’t break our covenant with our veterans”. And he said his administration has cut veterans homelessness nearly in half. He also expressed concern, shared by the White House, over a backlog of appeals but said that overall, veterans appreciate the support they have received from Obama. Of those, just 13,000 were living in the streets, a 56 percent drop in six years.
Mike Ehrlich, a Vietnam War veteran who retired from the Navy Reserve, said there’s no easy answer.
Advertisement
He acknowledged that the administration did not reach its goal to eradicate homelessness. Although as we have repeatedly stated, “it would be easier to care for our veterans if government stopped creating so damn many of them in the name of totally pointless foreign engagements”.
