LaMalfa Continues to Demand Accountability at VA; Inspection of Oakland VA Office Announced
Washington, DC – Washington, DC – Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) today met with the Department of Veterans Affairs Undersecretary for Benefits Allison Hickey to seek answers about the misconduct that has been uncovered at Oakland Regional Office. The meeting was part of an ongoing effort to hold VA officials accountable and came on the heels of an announcement that the Inspector General of the VA had begun an inquiry at the Oakland office.
"As we continue to learn more about the failures that are plaguing the VA, it is becoming increasingly clear that this pattern of wrongdoing and unethical conduct is not isolated to one or two facilities," said LaMalfa. "The excessive wait times, second-rate care, fraudulent records, destroyed or hidden files, and general incompetence have not only prevented our veterans from receiving the care they deserve, but likely also cost veterans' lives."
At last week's House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing, Rep. LaMalfa shared reports his office received from whistleblowers at the claims processing facility in Oakland, including one citing thousands of veterans' documents "sitting on a cart or a janitor's closet or in the hallway by the director's office for years and even decades." Following the reports, the Assistant Inspector General for audits and evaluations announced that the Inspector General's office was opening a formal inquiry into the Oakland VA.
Video of Rep. LaMalfa's remarks may be found at the following link:
Asst. Inspector General Linda Halliday's testimony may be found at the following link at approximately 35:30:
https://www.ustream.tv/recorded/50077243
"The system can be fixed, but some bureaucrats in DC just don't get it. Just last week, in addition to retaliating against the same whistleblowers that exposed this incompetence, Acting VA Secretary Sloan Gibson demanded billions of dollars in new funding to pay an additional 10,000 clinic staff. When will Washington understand that this incompetence and waste is not going to change, no matter how many billions of taxpayer dollars are spent, without addressing the culture of unaccountability and mismanagement?" LaMalfa added. "Our veterans deserve a system that works for them, a system that fulfils the most basic promise we made to these men and women."
Doug LaMalfa is a lifelong farmer representing California's First Congressional District, including Butte, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou and Tehama Counties.
###