Press Release

Friday, May 30, 2014

Price Responds to VA Secretary’s Resignation

Calls Systemic Crisis a “Failure of Design”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Price, M.D. (GA-06), vice chairman of the House Budget Committee, issued the following statement after President Obama announced the resignation of Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.

“Secretary Shinseki’s resignation gives the Obama Administration the opportunity to put in place new leadership at the Veterans Administration. Hopefully that will help. However, as has been clear from the very beginning, the problems at the VA are larger than one man. As has been stated, this is a ‘systemic’ crisis that is leaving too many veterans out in the cold, that is threatening their health and well-being. When you have a systemic problem, it’s not a funding issue. It’s a failure of design. There are frankly too many policies and protocols in the bureaucracy of Washington that build barriers to quality care. Our focus should be on how we make the VA a department that is responsive to the needs of our veterans and offers them the choices in care we all desire for ourselves and our families.”

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