VA chief: Employees being held ‘accountable’

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald said Sunday that he is holding employees of his agency more responsible for their treatment of veterans after a scandal that engulfed the department last year.

{mosads}“Nine-hundred people have been fired since I became secretary…so we’re holding people accountable,” McDonald said during an interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

McDonald assumed the top post at the VA after reports of lengthy waiting lists and preventable deaths in the VA’s healthcare system rocked the agency in 2014.

The new chief said he is working to reduce the number of homeless veterans in the U.S., especially in cities such as Los Angeles.

“We’re putting in more vouchers that will get people into housing,” McDonald said of the VA’s Los Angeles plans. “On the property itself, we have buildings which are vacated. We need to do some seismic work on some of the buildings.”

McDonald said the Obama administration was determined to drastically reducing the number of homeless veterans in the U.S.

“We need to end veteran’s homeless by the end of the 2015, that’s been the president’s commitment, that’s my commitment and we’re moving forward full speed ahead,” he said.