The Obama administration delivered another punch in the gut to the nation’s veterans earlier this week when its Justice Department declared it would not defend a key provision of the Veterans Administration reform law passed in 2014 after patients endured unreasonably long wait times at VA hospitals.
The provision in the reform measure, which was signed into law by President Obama, allowed executives who had been indifferent to the suffering of veterans, to be fired more easily than other civil servants.
The subject in question, Sharon Helman, was fired in November 2014 not only for the long wait times at the Phoenix VA hospital but also for accepting unreported gifts, to which she pled guilty. She had been placed on leave during the investigation into the charge that 40 veterans died while waiting for treatment at the hospital.
Now, the decision by Attorney General Loretta Lynch could return her to her job as her suit against the government moves forward.
The 2014 scandal not only brought about the reforms but also brought down Veterans Administrative Secretary Eric Shinseki, who resigned.
Congressional critics rightly pounced on the decision on the provision, which Lynch said she wouldn’t defend because it didn’t allow the fired employees an appeal.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the decision “shameful.”
House Veteran Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller, R-Fla., railed that the very president who signed the reform was now refusing to back it.
“The effect of this reckless action is clear: It undermines very modest reforms to our broken civil service system supported in 2014 by the president and an overwhelming majority of Congress,” he said.
“While this matter is still pending in federal court,” Miller said, “we will immediately begin exploring legislative remedies to thwart the Obama administration’s blatant advocacy on behalf of those whose mismanagement, malfeasance and crimes may have contributed to veteran and taxpayer harm.”
Although Lynch said she would uphold the VA measure’s other reforms, the administration hasn’t exactly been a friend to veterans since the scandal. Disciplinary actions have moved slowly, VA whistleblowers continue to be persecuted and construction of a VA hospital in Denver was allowed to get more than $1 billion over budget, veterans advocates have said.
Now, thanks to the attorney general, a bureaucrat’s job appears to be more important than the scores of veterans that same bureaucrat let down. They deserve better.