Republican
Congressman Jim Gerlach, PA-6th Dist., issued the following statement
following the resignation of Gen. Eric Shinseki as Secretary of the
Department of Veterans Affairs:
"General Shinseki clearly understands
the importance of having leaders who are accountable, and I believe he
made the appropriate decision to resign. We are grateful for his
tremendous valor while serving in Vietnam and thank him for his
dedicated career of service to our country. While a change in personnel
at the VA certainly is necessary given the inexcusable delays in
providing medical care to our veterans and deceptive manipulation of
records, there also must be a fundamental change in the culture at the
VA. That change can occur only if the President demonstrates leadership
and insists that everyone at the VA be accountable to our veterans,
their families and taxpayers.
I know that the vast majority of VA
employees are dedicated to serving veterans and their families and work
hard every day to do just that. But without serious reforms throughout
the VA system, the exemplary efforts of the majority will be
overshadowed by those who game the system and put their self-interests
ahead of the interests of our veterans. In the House, my colleagues and
I already have acted on several fronts to ensure that our veterans have
access to the high-quality medical care they've earned and to give the
VA Secretary the flexibility all managers need to fire those who are not
doing their job before they destroy the morale of competent co-workers
and cause harm to our veterans. I am hopeful the leaders of the U.S.
Senate and the President will join with us in these efforts."
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