Rep. Davis: New VA director hasn’t cleaned up mess

Posted on August 21, 2015

By Will Stevenson/Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis says the problems are starting to pile up again at the Veterans Administration, and that means the director has got to go.

Officials at the Los Angeles VA allegedly shredded veterans’ benefit claims documents without ever processing them according to a new report. Davis said that’s reason enough for Secretary Bob McDonald to be shown the door.

“I think the President should fire Secretary McDonald, or I think he should resign,” said Davis. “He clearly hasn’t solved the problems that we have even given him the flexibility to solve.”

Davis said depending on how you define “better” — sure, things at the VA might be better since last year’s scandal over appointment backlogs and other things, but he doesn’t see it.

“There’s still a backlog of appointments. There’s still a backlog of disability claims. There’s still reports of different facilities being mismanaged,” said Davis. “We need to have an overhaul at the executive level.”

McDonald — former CEO of Proctor and Gamble — replaced Eric Shinseki, who resigned amid the initial scandal.

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