WASHINGTON — President Obama believes there needs to be "accountability" at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the White House said Thursday as more Democrats demanded the resignation of VA chief Eric Shinseki.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner became the sixth Democrat in the Senate facing re-election this November to call for Shinseki's ouster. "General Shinseki has served our country with distinction. I now believe he should step aside in order to allow our focus and our efforts to be on making the critically needed changes to fix the VA," Warner said.
He said he was disturbed by an inspector general's report, released Wednesday, that found VA officials falsified records to hide the length of time vets have to wait for medical care. The reports concluded the problem was "systemic" and nationwide.
"Like most Americans, I am outraged about how our veterans are being treated," Warner added. "We have to fix the system now."
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama wants to see the results of the IG's inquiry into the charges, as well as an internal audit Shinseki is conducting, before making any decisions. Carney refused to say if Obama still has confidence in his VA chief. "He believes there ought to be accountability" once the facts are established from the probes, Carney said.
Republicans stepped up their attacks on the administration over the crisis, but House Speaker John Boehner was reluctant to ask for Shinseki's head.
"The question I ask myself is: Is him resigning going to get us to the bottom of the problem? Is it going to help us find out what is really going on? The answer is no," Boehner said.
In an interim report on an investigation at VA facilities in Phoenix, the inspector general confirmed that 1,700 veterans were being held on a secret waiting list that allowed officials to report much shorter waiting times, data used in their salary and bonus-award calculations.
It said similar probes are under way at 42 VA locations across the US. "The real issue here is the president is the one who should be held accountable," Boehner said, adding that the VA inspector general and the Government Accountability Office have flagged scheduling problems at the VA for years.
The GOP-controlled House is pursuing its own investigation into the care delays and new legislation to address it.
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