New calls for Obama to answer VA questions

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday night pressed President Obama to focus as much time on problems facing the Department of Veterans Affairs as he has on ObamaCare. 

{mosads}”Look, the VA has been a problem for a long time,” McConnell said on Fox News. “It’s nice that the president is mad as hell, but why didn’t he have the kind of attention applied to this he did to the ObamaCare website? Multiple press conferences, multiple communications with the American people.”

McConnell said the problem is one of management, and “it’s obvious that the management team needs to be changed.”

Reports last month suggested nearly 40 veterans died while on a wait list at a Phoenix VA clinic, though it is not clear if the deaths were a result of the long wait time. The department’s inspector general is investigating the charges. 

Obama addressed the issue last month and assigned his deputy chief of staff, Rob Nabors, to help assist in the review. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday the press would likely hear from Obama on the issue “soon.”

“He’s the CEO of the country,” McConnell said. “The VA reports to him. He ought to have the same kind of interest in this that he did in the ObamaCare website and that ObamaCare law in general.”

McConnell acknowledged there have been problems in the VA dating back to the George W. Bush years, but cautioned the administration against blaming the GOP. 

“This has not been a secret that the VA was not doing right by our veterans,” he said.