Shinseki Resignation Long Overdue

Jim Martin – “Government has thrown piles of money at the VA and its horrors have only grown worse.”

(Alexandria, Virginia) – Former Marine and current 60 Plus Association Chairman Jim Martin, leader of the nation’s largest conservative seniors organization with over 7.2 million senior supporters, today issued the following statement calling on Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs Eric Shinseki to resign, while Martin further highlights the failure of the VA as a failure of government.

“Candidate Obama ran on a platform of ‘fixing’ the VA, and boy did he fix it. American servicemen and women are now in more danger under government run healthcare than they were in the field of combat. This outrage should wake-up every American to the disastrous reality of what happens when we put government bureaucrats in control of our doctors.

“Despite a 50% increase in the VA budget since 2009, Congress exempting the agency from sequestration and providing it funding a year in advance so it never wants for resources, the VA has failed miserably in its obligation to care for our nation’s wounded heroes. This scandal is not a product of government running the VA on the cheap, but on government running the VA, period.

“The Administration and General Shinseki saying they learned in the news of the long waiting lists and veterans dying without ever getting a doctor visit is an insult to every American. After the campaign speeches, President Obama and General Shinseki left these problems to fester and have repeatedly ignored all the warnings that the VA was spiraling down the drain.

“Despite years of promises, General Shinseki has yet to fully address the shameful backlog of hundreds of thousands of vets waiting on disability claims, or to fix the agency’s record keeping system. America has lost faith that this Secretary and this President can remedy the problem, even with more than enough financial resources at their disposal.

“I join dozens of elected leaders — including former Democrat Senator and decorated war hero Bob Kerrey of Nebraska — in calling for the immediate resignation of General Eric Shinseki. He has failed in his mission to properly run the VA and honor the veterans under his care. The VA needs reform, private assistance and free-market mechanisms to give veterans the care they have earned.

“The tragedy that is the VA is the reality of bureaucrat-run healthcare. It is not a failure of resources or our medical technology, but of government. Real reforms are needed now, and the first step is the retirement of Secretary Shinseki.”

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