WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Rep. Jeff Miller, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, issued the following statement on the pending sequester of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA):

“This Committee has repeatedly stated for more than a year that the Administration has been negligent in providing a clear answer to America’s veterans and their families regarding whether any part of VA may be subject to sequestration this January. It is time for the Administration to make a decision.

“In June, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) finally responded to repeated requests sent over the course of the previous six months to interpret the sequestration law in VA’s favor. This stance was reiterated by the President himself in an address to the Veterans of Foreign Wars a mere month later. Yet, days later, Secretary Shinseki testified before this Committee and the House Armed Services Committee that VA would face ‘administrative cuts,’ but the details of those cuts had yet to be worked out. The White House confirmed this statement in a press briefing the following day.

“This political ping pong by the Administration on such an important subject as the safeguarding of funding for veterans is politics at its worse. I call on the Administration to provide an unambiguous, clear, definitive answer to our veterans as to whether or not VA will face sequestration and, if so, to provide the details of those cuts to Congress immediately as per the law.”