John Boehner Blasts Obama Over Pace Of Reform At Department Of Veterans Affairs

John Boehner Blasts Obama Over Pace Of Reform At Department Of Veterans Affairs

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday called on the Obama administration to formulate a "long-term plan" that would address the problems plaguing the Department of Veterans Affairs, including improper spending of taxpayer funds and secret lists that have kept veterans waiting for care.

"Just one person has been fired. One. What the hell happened to the rest of them?" Boehner said on the House floor, referring to officials involved in the ongoing scandal over chronic delays at the agency. "If only the VA did as good a job taking care of bureaucrats as our veterans, we'd be in better shape."

A year after the scandal first broke, statistics compiled by the Veterans Administration have not shown a decline in the number of patients facing long waits for care.

The speaker also criticized the agency for spending $6 billion a year in violation of federal contracting rules, as revealed by a new report last week.

"This isn't run-of-the-mill incompetence. It's arrogance," Boehner said. "Only the administration can change the culture from within. The president owes the American people a long-term plan to fix the VA."

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