John Boehner: Eric Shinseki's Resignation 'Changes Nothing'

John Boehner: Eric Shinseki's Resignation 'Changes Nothing'

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said on Friday that Eric Shinseki's resignation as secretary of the scandal-plagued Department of Veterans Affairs doesn't absolve the Obama administration of its responsibility to fix how the nation provides care to its veterans.

"Until the president outlines a vision and an effective plan," Boehner said, "today’s announcement really changes nothing."

"One personnel change cannot be used as an excuse to paper over a systemic problem," he added.

As criticism of Shinseki mounted over the past week, Boehner never officially joined scores of Republicans and Democrats who called for his resignation, because, Boehner said, it "takes people’s eye off getting to the bottom of the problems.”

President Barack Obama announced on Friday that he had accepted Shinseki's resignation shortly after meeting with him at the White House. He named Sloan Gibson as the department's acting secretary.

A scathing inspector general report released on Wednesday found that officials used inappropriate scheduling practices to conceal substantial treatment delays at veterans hospitals across the country.

In his statement on Friday, Obama called Shinseki a "very good man" but said that the secretary "felt that new leadership would serve our veterans best, and I agree with him."

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