Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Thursday offered few recommendations for internal reforms and improvements in his final assessment of the agency, even though his agency continues to be plagued with scandals for more than two years.
The government’s second-largest federal agency has attracted scandal after scandal during President Obama’s tenure, including allegations that dozens of veterans died as the department failed to deliver them access to a doctor, and then systematically covered up the problem in hospitals across the country. The VA has since taken just minimal steps to fire the officials involved, and in many cases allowed them to retire with benefits.
These problems and others, including the mismanagement of hundreds of millions of dollars in construction funding, have prompted congressional investigations and nationwide outrage. But even as recently as December, lawmakers were responding to new instances of scandal at VA hospitals across the U.S.
“The VA is broken, and if we want veterans to be assured of a VA that works, we need to systematically reform it,” Concerned Veterans for America spokesman John Cooper told the Washington Times last April.
McDonald, however, used his exit memo to tout the department’s “measurable and dramatic” success in improving rates of veteran homelessness, reducing waiting times for appointments and developing easier ways for veterans to apply for healthcare.
“Today, we’re growing a culture at every level of VA that focuses on the consistent delivery of value, elimination of waste and the resolution of bottlenecks that hinder delivery of high-quality services and benefits,” he wrote.
“We are making improvements across all business lines and program offices and making it easier for Veterans to access and interact with the benefits they have earned,” he added.
The current VA secretary urged the next administration to continue transforming the department through the MyVA initiative he announced in 2015, though much of his vision for improvement relied on congressional action. To enhance the agency’s effectiveness, he said Congress should eliminate budget constraints and approve pending construction projects for new VA facilities, among other requests.
But McDonald made no mention of reforms that would bring increased accountability to the VA, such as eliminating corrupt or negligent workers, a step lawmakers and veterans groups have long sought in the absence of action taken against employees who were at the center of the agency’s scandals. At a banquet for Veterans in April, McDonald had said, “you can’t fire your way to excellence.”
Though some veterans organizations have encouraged President-elect Trump to reappoint McDonald to his current position at the VA, others have blasted the current secretary’s leadership.
“After years of scandal under Secretary Robert McDonald, a new leader can’t come soon enough,” CVA executive director Mark Lucas wrote in an op-ed on Tuesday.
VA secretary is one of two remaining cabinet-level posts Trump has yet to fill. Fox News host Pete Hegseth and former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown appear to be the only contenders still under consideration for the position, after two other candidates — Florida businessman Luis Quinonez and Cleveland Clinic chief Toby Cosgrove — both withdrew their names earlier this week.
