House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is pushing President Barack Obama to do more while some senators are attempting to develop a bipartisan bill that would address delays in the delivery of health care for military veterans.
The New York Times: Boehner Calls For More Action On V.A. Scandal
Speaker John A. Boehner on Wednesday demanded that President Obama do more to fix what Mr. Boehner called “the abject failure†of the Department of Veterans Affairs to meet the needs of the country’s soldiers returning from battles abroad. In a letter signed by the Republican House leadership, Mr. Boehner called on the president to support legislation offered by his members that would provide the secretary of veterans affairs with more authority to fire people at the agency and give veterans who face delays in seeing doctors the ability to temporarily go elsewhere (Shear, 6/4).
The Wall Street Journal: House GOP Leaders Seek Veterans Agency Overhaul
Top House Republicans on Wednesday pressed the White House to overhaul the Department of Veterans Affairs, asking President Barack Obama whether he would be willing to rethink the entire system, given the continuing scandal over mismanagement and long waiting times for patients. House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) and other GOP leaders said in a letter to Mr. Obama that the resignation last week of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki doesn’t address the fundamental problems facing the agency (Crittenden, 6/4).
The Associated Press: McCain, Sanders Push For VA Health Care Deal
A half dozen key lawmakers were struggling Wednesday to quickly craft a compromise bill to help veterans facing long appointment waits at veterans hospitals and make it easier to fire administrators who covered up the delays. The goal is to address an uproar over veterans’ health care following allegations that veterans have died while waiting to see a Veterans Affairs doctor. Senators hope to pass the bill before Friday’s 70th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe in World War II. Up to a dozen senators are expected to attend the ceremonies in France (6/4).
Politico: Senators Seek Bipartisan VA Deal
Sanders and McCain met on Wednesday morning and held a second meeting in the afternoon — and though McCain said no breakthrough was imminent it was “worth a try†to keep talking. Sanders scrapped a planned Thursday hearing on his legislation that would create new Veterans Affairs Department medical centers, allow veterans to seek health care at community health clinics and increase the number of nurses and doctors in the VA. Instead Sanders is working with a group of Republicans who have offered an alternate proposal in the hopes that the Senate could vote on an immediate fix to health care access woes, perhaps as early as Thursday (Everett, 6/4).
Reuters: Lawmakers Rush To Craft Bill On Veterans Health Crisis
U.S. lawmakers engaged in rare bipartisan talks on Wednesday about legislation to address delays in the delivery of health care for military veterans. The discussions sparked optimism that Republicans and Democrats can quickly strike a deal for a bill that would ensure immediate care for veterans and give the Obama administration greater authority to fire employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Aides to Senate Democrats said a vote on a compromise measure could come as early as Thursday (Cornwell and Lawder, 6/4).
This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.