Posted on 02/12/2015 7:13:02 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Tensions ran high when Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald was grilled about mismanagement within the VA system during a House hearing Wednesday – a major veterans group is demanding an apology.
Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., a 22-year Marine Corps veteran, who saw combat in Iraq in the 1990s then returned to the country on active service in 2006, was questioning McDonald about Denver’s failed VA hospital construction project and accusing him of glossing over problems within the system when things got testy.
After citing cost overrun and scheduling problems with a VA hospital construction in Denver, Coffman said it was a symbol of the VA’s mismanagement.
“This is a department mired in bureaucratic incompetence and corruption,” he said.
Not liking the hot-seat, McDonald made an attempt at shifting the blame.
“You’ve been here longer than I have,” McDonald said. “If there’s a problem in Denver, I think you own it more than I do.”
Coffman, the only member of Congress to have served in both Iraq wars, wasn’t outwardly fazed by the personal jab.
Instead, he pressed for accountability over the construction project that’s been burdened with substantial time and budget miscalculations, and suggested that the VA get out of the construction businesses.
That’s when McDonald – a West Point graduate and former Army captain – got really defensive.
“I’ve run a large company, sir,” he said. “What have you done?”
Coffman didn’t respond to the insulting question at the hearing, but his spokesman, Tyler Sandberg, issued a statement afterward:
“The secretary may think that making personal attacks against Rep. Coffman makes for good sound bites on TV but it’s a diversion from what should be his core task: changing the culture within the VA,” Sandberg said.
Concerned Veterans for America wants more than that.
Pete Hegseth, the CEO of the group said McDonald was “disrespectful” of Coffman and demanded an apology from McDonald, according to the Blaze.
“While it isn’t exactly rare to see a cabinet-level officer face tough questions while testifying before Congress, the disrespectful, combative and accusatory tone Secretary McDonald took with Rep. Coffman today was out of line, inexcusable and in my view requires a formal apology,” Hegseth said in a statement.
What a wonderful person McDonald is.
PING!
Obviously, “running a large company” hasn’t made a difference in the (mis)management/coming to grips with the VA problems.
The VA doesn’t care about Vets. Some individuals within the organization do care but the system itself does not.
What would one expect to hear from someone in odumbo’s administration?
What would one expect to hear from someone in odumbo’s administration?
Disrespect is rampant in this Administration’s appointees.
Think Hillary, Koskinen, Lerner,Johnson, McDonald, etc.
It should be handed back to them in spades.
God knows you don’t criticize veterans...unless you’re running against them in an election, of course.
You hit the nail on the head. The problem is that the current administration does’t look at us as veteran’s just a potential voter who can be controlled with a small compensation check.
These ‘appointees’ are people who have been HANDED positions, titles, expense accounts, princely salaries, etc. which absolutely nothing in their experience, character or ‘education’ warrants.
These appointees have no idea what individuals in the private sector must do to compete for and win the kind of privilege, status, money and benefits that THEY receive, JUST because they are chummy with unscrupulous politicians.
Once they leave office you never hear from them again because they are incompetent, poseurs and non entities with NOTHING to recommend them except their proximity to and influence with politicians.
Didja ever notice that the vast majority of vets are conservative but those few who are lefties are invariably real azzwipes?
When you had 100k cases without an increase in funding due to fighting 2 wars over the course of a decade, you will have serious issues
Any vet who votes democrat should have a mental competency test ordered.
The VA needs to be dissolved entirely. Just round up the vets who qualify...qualify them for some Medicaid-plus type health deal, and let them see local clinics and hospitals. It was all a gimmick by both parties as they created the VA in the beginning....and there’s no reason to continue it today.
Secretary McDonald is retired CEO of Proctor and Gamble. He was entirely in the private sector before accepting his current position.
That said, he has no experience running a health care delivery system. He came up the ranks in P&G as a marketing person.
He should know better, then
The problems didn’t just start with the Iraq wars.
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