is unbelievably large. 6.5 million veterans a year access va health care. rans are walking into va facilities. if 95% of those people thought va health care were excellent, and 5% did not, and that would be for the va very, very good, there would be 10,000 people unsatisfied with va health care. so you also have to look at the size and understand this happens in health care all over the place. >> but this isn't just dissatisfaction, this is perhaps 40 people dying. clearly something needs to change. >> no, no, ronan, ronan, have you done an independent investigation? >> this is an unverified charge, this is true. let's talk about the quality of the investigation. >> one second. this is an important point. it's called rush to judgment. there is now an independent investigation by people and doctors who know how to do these things. so before we say that 40 people died, i think we should wait. i would hope that you would agree with me on that. >> this is an interesting point because your counterpart on the house side jeff miller said we shouldn't wait. he's alr

petzel come what are the strengths of the va health care system? what are the problems in your judgment? is a good system? >> mr. chairman, it's a good system, and is comparable to any other health care system in the country. in some areas and some specific occasions we exceed even those good systems. for five years now we focused on three major goals for va. all of us focused on doing better by veterans which is what the president asked me to do when i came here. the first was to increase access. i think we've been successful at this. we've enrolled 2 million more veterans into va health care. i think there's a net here, somewhere around 1.4 million, 1.5 million who are net overall increases. but over five years we've enrolled 2 million more of veterans. the second focus was to go after this thing called the backlog. we've had this discussion for a number of years now, but we didn't send ago after the backlog just two and what was then, five years ago, a set of claims. we also acknowledged that we hadn't done very well by veterans of previous confl

all of the veterans organizations who testified said that once veterans get into the va health care system, the quality of care they're getting is good or very good. and with in fact, a lot of independent surveys indicate that va health care holds up well or better than care in the private sector. alex, the problem that we're having is that there are, it appears, waiting lists that are much too long in various parts of the country. and we've got to determine right now, how significant that problem is. where those waiting lists exist and determine whether or not the va needs more resources given the fact in the last three or four years we've seen some 2 million more people come into the va health care system. we have to if the va is using and allocating snare resources appropriately. do we have enough people in this community and maybe too many in that kmiechbt? we are also have to deal with the fact that there are some people who may not be doing their jooebs add kweltly who should be removed. and we have to figure out how to do that as well. >> senator, you know, i think a lot of folks ar

health and specialized care. commander, what is your thought about that? >> well, you know, the va right now utilizes telemedicine. so even though there is only nurse there, they can by utilizing tele- health -- >> i appreciate that. how was your members reacted they said look, we're not going to make you wait anymore. if the va can't feature needs within a certain period of time, we will allow you, if you choose, to seek private care. if you want to it, you can way. >> we would be opposed to that because we want the best health care as fast as possible, also have to put a caveat, but it can't have been exceedingly because then there goes the entire budget that is fee-based, which is higher in the reverse is the ability the va. >> i get that. we are all same best care. >> that is the exact point if you are not willing to give va the resources it needs to allow for access to the facility, you need to give them more resources by sending veterans out to the community. ba has the authority. i don't think to use it enough for purchase care. again, as i pointed out, if a veteran can't be

care both in and outside of va. [applause] we'll announce the results of our nationwide audit of all va health care facilities in theing days. i now ask congress to support senator bernie sanders' proposed bill giving va's secretary greater authority to remove senior leaders. [applause] and i ask the support of congress to fill existing va leadership positions that are still vacant. again -- [applause] again, this situation can be fixed with va, vsos, congress and all of our stakeholders like many of you in this room working together with the best interest of veterans at heart. we can do this in the days ahead. just as we have done over past five years on veterans homelessness. we can do this. we'll need all of your help. god bless our veterans, those especially in greatest need of our prayers and our help, and may god continue to bless this wonderful country of ours. thank you all very much. [applause] [applause] >> va secretary eric shinseki speaking at this conference for homelessness among veterans this morning, also taking a moment to apologize for the challenges facing veterans at va facilities. he also announ

we said, once you access, once you access va health care, is the care good? what they said is it was good to excellent. the problem that we're dealing with, which is a serious problem, is waiting lists, is access. >> well, two things. first of all, among younger veterans, iraq veterans and afghanistan veterans, i think 59% say it's bad to poor. only 38% say that it's excellent or good. so there's a big difference generationally. second, you've had cases now where you have people who couldn't get a colonoscopy, not a problem of getting registered, and they die. isn't anybody worried about that? >> worried about it? it's a tragedy. it's a tragedy. who could argue that? people have died because of bad care within the va, but newt, this is a scientific american article of a year ago. you know what it says? in hospitals in america, not the va, in hospitals in america, you've seen that study, between 200 and 400 americans die because of poor treatments in hospital, infections, getting wrong dosages of drugs. we have a health care crisis in general. >> let me go a s

>> privatization of va health care, they talked about that in the past. e developed in 2003 our saving task force because we believe the va health care system is a system worth saving. the veterans should have a va facility and a whole system set up to handle the unique need of veterans. i think when they can't see them in a timely manner they have a fee basis program. we're okay with them feeing out certain veterans for medical attention when the va can't see them but not privatization of the va health care system. the veterans deserve the health care system and they deserve it to be a good competent and healthy system for them. >> thank you. memorial day weekend is a time to remember our fallen soldiers. president obama is honoring those today with a surprise visit to afghanistan. more on that after the break. moe way to get your fiber. moe try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious, and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge: the tasty side of fiber. from phillips. when folks think abou

significant improvement in terms of how the administrations process takes place in all of our va health care facilities. so, i though he cares about it deeply and, you know, he has been a great public servant and a great warrior on behalf of the united states of america. we're going to work with him to solve the problem. but, i am going to make sure that there is accountability throughout the system after i get the full report. steve holland from reuters. >> thank you, sir. as secretary shinseki offered to resign? if he is not to blame who is? were you caught by surprise by these allegations? >> rick shinseki i think serves this country because he cares deeply about veterans and he cares deeply about the mission and i know that rick's attitude is, if he does not think he can do a good job on this, and if he think he has let our veterans down, then i'm sure he is not going to be interested in continuing to serve. at this stage rick is committed to solving the problem and working with us to do it. and i am going to do everything in my power, using the resources of the white house, to help that

ahead. >> no no no and i want to hear about but just characters the ce care you get at the va. >> by the way i happen to be in the healthe business i just retired recently so i know a little bit about this. and the delivery was as far as the va was that they could also go outside the va system as far as the physicians go. and been the te been the tertiay care. i had something that only effects 500,000 people out of a country of 300 million. there isn't a whole lot of surgeons that can do the surgery. i had tremendous pain. i knew i had a chance to not just have the medication but to have the surgery. i went to the va. i went to my primary care physician. they made the referral, right there in front of me. where can you do that outside the va, come on you folks in the civilian world, boy i'd like to see that specialist who saw my brother, it's a six month wait. those things are inherent, those things of being secondary and tertiary care. he referred me on the spot. to the neurology department, the cat scans all the prep work and they i had the surgery. the point i want to make folks is that it wasn't at the va but the va

health administration. the part of the va that delivers health care to our veterans, and ron going to phoenix today. keep in mind, though, even if we had not heard reports out of this phoenix facility or other facilities, we all know that it often takes too long for veterans to get the care that they need. that's not a new development. it's been a problem for decades, and it's been compounded by more than a decade of war. that's why when i came into office i said we would systemically work to fix the problem and have worked hard to address them. my attitude is for folks fighting on the battlefield, they should not have to fight a bureaucracy at home to get the care that they've earned. so the presumption has always been we have to do better, and rob's review will be a comprehensive look at the veterans health administration's approach currently to access to care. i want to know what's working. i want to know what is not working, and i want specific recommendations on how va can up their game. i expect that full report from rob next month. number four. i said that i expect everyone involved to work w

pressure on him mounted after this week report from the va internal watch dog found delayed care for thousands of veterans and deception throughout the va health care system. >> initiated the process. >> just before resigning he took steps to deal with that. announcing senior leaders at the phoenix va hospital at the center of the scandal will be fired. all 1700 vets waiting for appointment there will be helped immediately while all bonus yes bonuses for senior va officials this year will be cancelled. >> i said we wouldn't tolerate misconduct and we will not. we have to do better and we will. >> president obama said the promise of wait long time the and secret waiting list took him by sprays. >> this was not something that we were hearing when i was traveling around the country the particular issue of scheduling. >>reporter: over a year ago the chairman of the house veterans affair committee warned the white house about quote management failure, deception and look of accountability permeating va health care system. adding in a letter to the president you are direct involvement in leadership is required. white house never responded. >> january

. >> on september 13, of 2013, the committee requested the current status of all va health care facilities that have a wait time back on. today we received and complete information with only two of hundreds of the va medical facilities. despite this request being over eight months late, when can we expect to receive a response. >> we will work to make this as expeditiously as possible. >> no, sir we get the results of the audit as quickly as we can. >> we will work to get that enable take it back. the and it is the committee's top priority if that is what you indicate. >> the committee sent a letter every week to the secretary with every single outstanding request. on january 26, 2014, the va was sent a request for information regarding gastrointestinal all for it each va health care facility to date and we have received no response about this. when will we receive a response? >> on, um, consult the latest, we will try to provide it and i will get that information as to when we can provide it. >> on january 24, the request was sent for a copy of a report that contained information on conso

our military affairs analyst but more importantly, he's the recipient of a medal of honor and va health care and by his reckoning somewhere north of a dozen surgeries since coming home from the war and still have some shrapnel in you, i know. >> va is a huge bureaucracy, routine things in a routine way but any physician will tell you medicine is not routine. no matter what runs the va, no matter how much money we throw at a it, it will never deliver what we want, timely first class medical care to those who served and it has to go. there is no way under the current system to get what we want. veteran goes to the doctor, doctor treats veteran and the government sends the doctor a check. to make it any more difficult for veterans means we broke trust for those who fought for us. >> so you're arguing for a total scrapping -- >> the entire va medical system needs to go. it hasn't delivered what we need and can't deliver what we need. it's senseless to have a costly system that can't give us what we need. >> jack jacobs, comments he's submitting to the new york times. we'll see what becomes of th

now, some of them can be service connected, and some of them might just be using the va for their health care. so you have all these iraq and afghanistan veterans returning from a war. you have a million veterans in this country that were unemployed, that have chosen the va as their health care under obamacare. and now you have a lot of other veterans who have made more and more claims with the va over time. so what you have is accusations and so far no evidence that anybody died but accusations that people couldn't get in to see doctors, and it seems that that is the case, that people could not get in to see doctors because there was too many veterans and the demand was too high. >> that is what i have been seeing from the people i've talked to. i talked to some folks inside the va. i was corresponding with some vets today, one of whom made the point that you've got people walking in the va system when you talk about the 1 million unemployed vets, who haven't seen a doctor in years. so we're thinking about this as the sort of cost of the war, but there are a whole set of concentric circles o

health care system in general? or is this something that is very specific to veterans care that can be fixed by fixing that particular system? >> this is systemic to the va health care system. nick hit it on the head. we have to have accountability, period, end of story. it's not about firing one person. there are a lot of great things that the va is doing right now. they have a huge work load, and we have to do better, we have to hold individuals accountable and put some systems in place to stop the stalling, stop the backlogs. people need to be held accountable so we can move things forward and save veterans' lives. >> thank you to both of you. >> thank you for having me. >> thank you. >>> and coming up, shifting grounds on the fight for raising the minimum wage. fast food workers around the world unite. big names in the gop are raising a caution flag, meanwhile, on the benghazi story, while others are still trying to sell it as a major scandal. >>> just moments ago, chairman darrell issa issued a new subpoena for secretary of state john kerry. much more ahead on "the reid report."amerip rise asked people a simple question: can you keep your lifestyle

let me start with you, the va health care system is government health care.e some vets are satisfied, these other cases are so horrendous and unforgivable. could this be what you like under obamacare? >> you to separate the two. first we have to take care of va. we have obligations to our veterans. we have a voluntary military. part of the whole drill was to take care of those who serve our country and went through a long period of war, 13 years. well will have 100 thousands men and women come back with serious head injuries. whatever it takes bipartisanly we need to fix this thing. relative to being connected with obamacare, the problem with obamacare is didn't do anything to reduce the cost. it added more coverage and but wasn't any guaranty there would be more medical services available. i think danger here, two programs, medicaid, medicare will be overwhelmed by new additions particularly medicare, i mean medicaid and medicare is obviously where they're taking substantial amount of money to pay for obamacare. i think both of those systems will suffer long

clearer skin is possible. >>> as the va health care scandal reaches a fever pitch, president obama says america's courageous veterans as a political football. yeah, that will work. >> i just met with secretary shinseki. nobody cares more about our veterans than ric shinseki. we'll work with him to solve the problem. >> republicans fended off threats from the tea party. >> tea party favorites lost in all of the most important republican races. >> in kentucky mitch mcconnell cruised to victory. >> alison grimes is barack obama's candidate. >> as kentucky's next united states senator, i'll answer to the people of this state. i will speak for myself, and no kentucky woman, mitch mcconnell, will sit on the back bench. >> now for the bombshell lawsuit against the nfl. >> the lawsuit claims doctors gave players painkillers to hide serious injuries and keep them on the field. >> the fbi is considering the relaxing the policy on marijuana smokers. >> one of our challenges we face is getting a good work force, at the same time when young people's attitudes about marijuana are leading more and mor

i have called for more funding for va health care. the level of funding has been pretty good, but when you're looking at a system in the last three years that has increased i , do they haveople the resources to do it? is the v.a. allocating its resources effectively? firingsecretary incompetent people, does he have the give ability of doing that? -- the capability of doing that? it is something we're going to look at hard once the recess is over. what you do not want to do is create a situation where any secretary ken, and -- can come in and say let's fire a whole hospital of administrators and make them political tools. >> the president said his chief of stack up to see you. why? to understand what i'm trying to do, and that i understand would the administration is trying to do. to figure out how to work best together. i just should just did what i -- i the real problems just suggested what i think the real problems are. and excusable in cooking the books, rather than saying to a veteran sorry, we have a three month waiting list. put

care that improves their health and well-being. that statement is in stone. that statement isn't going ton changed one iota. the vaealth care systes patient centered. it all begins with the model that is managed care, it doesn't -- what it does is put everything into focus, into perspective so that the veteran does get the appropriate care. and it all starts on their end visit with the primary care physician. they are the captain of the team. they are the one that do the referrals. and i want to say to all you veterans out there that when you come to the va first of all you're with other veterans. you know that really makes a big difference. you're sitting down in a waiting room, you're with somebody that might have been in the same outfit. you see the badges you see the hat you see the uniforms you exit the conversation. coming to the va it's veteran center. there are a number of service people that serve the veterans at the va system are veterans themselves. it is veterans helping veterans. >> bob gould of veterans radio. >>> the autopsy is back, james bird was shot three times by officers once in the back. the

i think you know my commitment to veterans and understand the problems with our va health care system. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. dr. lynch, on what date did you first become aware that there were allegations of problems in phoenix? >> april 9th 2014. >> on what date did you travel to phoenix to investigate? >> i made the first visit to phoenix on april 17th. it was a thursday before easter. i was there through easter until tuesday of the following week. >> was that -- was the day your returned? >> i believe it was on april april 23rd. i believe i came down to discuss the initial findings of the committee staff. >> under whose direction is to define a phoenix? >> dr. robert pets the last me go to phoenix. >> and he did you travel to phoenix with? >> myself, my wife joined me for the weekend. >> can you please explain your role in the initial investigation and phoenix as well as a role of the individuals that you're with? >> my initial role in phoenix was to try to get an understanding of what had happened to get a sense for how the congressional delegations as well as the v

vas? 151 medical centers and 900 primary care facilities today? over 200,000. so the point is, you have a huge system. what the veterans tell us in general is they like va healthpatient satisfaction is generally higher -- >> senator, that doesn't excuse the fact that people died because some waited up to 21 months for care. >> carol, you're absolutely right. nothing would excuse that. you would agree with me that we need an independent investigation by people who are trained to do that first. if one person died, that is one person too many. that's why we're going to get to the root of the issue. but the broad point that i want to make is when you're treating 6.5 million people a year, that's a lot of people. and there are going to be problems. if we simply say here is a problem, here is a problem -- what i'm suggesting to you sinned dent studies suggest va health care is pretty good, as good or better -- >> let me run this by you. senator john mccain is a vietnam p.o.w., he says if these allegations are true, it's a crime. listen to what he said. >> if these allegations are true, they're a violation of law. it's not a matter of resignations. it's a matter of w

mounting today for the head of the veterans affairs administration to be held accountable for the va's health care system. this as more whistleblowers are coming forward. kelly o'donnell has the latest. >> are you going to do what's right for the veterans, sir? >> reporter: veterans and their families are demanding answers and accountability. >> it took months for them to see him. they wouldn't call us back. >> reporter: this widening scandal first surfaced at the phoenix veterans affairs hospital. with allegations that records were secretly altered to show shorter waiting times for patient appointments to meet va standards. >> we were betrayed. myself, other veterans. >> reporter: senator john mccain, who held a town hall meeting on the controversy friday, said this could lead to criminal charges. >> this is the first time i've ever seen an outright what apparently, allegedly, is an outright cover-up. >> reporter: going beyond arizona, a texas va medical clerk, brian turner, tells nbc news that clerks in the san antonio and austin offices were coached to change numbers and dates to erase wait tim

i know plenty veterans that go to the va for health care. i go to the va for health care. of people we talk to are satisfied with this. the va is a humongous system. there's over 5 million patients in the va in 2012. that's over 5 million unique patients. there are going to be some unfortunately who have issues. if these 40 veterans are on a secret waiting list, these are just allegations at this point. nothing has been proven. we don't know. there's an investigation looking to see if the allegations are true. if they are true, how horrible. this is still a small number of the veterans going in for health care. and this is not terribly surprising to a lot of folks because the va is so massive and the resources at its disspoe sal have been stretched so thinly. >> the resources at the disposal are not stretched super thin. the problem is -- there's multiple problems. one is you have a congress that likes to use the power of the purse to push things a little far in my opinion and hold that over the va's head. so you have hospital administrators that are afraid to ask for more

health care is apportioned. that's going to rob it of market signals and we're going to see the va large on the u.s. health care system and the lucky ones will get out of it. >> we're already starting to see it already in terms of rationing. you see with mammograms they're trying to deny it to women under 50 and going to doom thousands of women to unnecessary deaths from breast cancer. >> and fellow columnist of yours, compared obamacare plans with private care plans in the same area and found that cardiologists and obgyns, there will be far fewer specialists away. >> i haven't had a chance to review it and maybe come up with something different but i hardly know where to begin with the things that i have heard in this segment. let me start with mike here. no, premiums have not gone up to their highest in three years. what has gone up is the total expenditure on health care but what's fascinating is when it was coming down during the recession area years nobody was giving credit to obamacare. now that it's going back up as people can join the system it's obamacare's fault. it's ridiculous and fantasy

seeing significant improvement in terms of how the admissions process takes place in all of our va health care facilities. so i know he cares about it deeply and he has been a great public servant and a great warrior on behalf of the united states of america. we are going to work with him to solve the problem but i am going to make sure that there is accountability throughout the system after i get the full report. steve from reuters. >> thank you sir. has secretary shinseki offered to resign? were you caught by surprise by these allegations? >> rick shinseki i think serves this country because he cares deeply about veterans and he cares about their mission and i know that rick's attitude is if he does not think he can do a good job on this and if he thinks he has let our veterans down then i'm sure that he is not going to be interested in continuing to serve. at this stage rick is committed to solving the problem and working with us to do it. and i am going to do everything in my power using the resources of the white house to help that process of getting to the bottom of what happened and fi

you know the va health care system is under fire, particularly after cnn revealed that in phoenix, the va hospitaltwo separate lists of care, and it cost many veterans their lives, according to those who are willing to talk to cnn. now we have just learned that the department of veteran affairs is announcing that an acting -- a new acting director for the phoenix va health care system has been named, and will oversee the delivery of health care to some 85,000 veterans there. all this as a result of a cnn investigation, and now an ongoing very big investigation involving the veterans affairs. in fact, there will be a hearing this week -- next week coming up -- before u.s. congress. so the investigation into whether veterans died while waiting for medical care at, not just the phoenix va hospital, but other va hospitals now, it's growing wider. in fact, an employee at a wyoming clinic of the department of veterans affairs has been placed on administrative leave now. allegations surfaced scheduling clerks at the va hospital in san antonio may have cooked the books to cover up long wait li

care. the va released a facts sheet and noted it offered areas that are specialized to va health care delivery and are hard to find outside the va for the fiscal year, the va has spent nearly $3.4 billion on non-va care for vets. why were so many vets dumped on to secret waiting lists and were not told they had non-va options? >> according to a local cbs station in los angeles, the bodies of 28 vets at the l.a. county morgue were just moved to a cemetery for burial this friday after being there for months. >> it's absolutely amazing. now we're seeing veterans who are waiting in these lists in death at this point. it's absolutely saddening. the interesting thing here is we're seeing a circular firing squad over these agencies passing blame whether it is the l.a. county coroners office blaming the va or it's the va themselves who are saying the l.a. county coroners office never notified them they had the bodies. there's a lot of blame going around, but nothing actually happened for 18 months. now because the press over in los angeles actually exposed what was going on, now something's happening.

health care reform. but what instead we've seen is efficiency at the va.nce so the president that came in promising to make government smarter and better is surrounded by a bureaucracy that hasn't been working. the question you have to ask is this his fault or is it possible that nobody can take charge of the bureaucracy? is this president obama management style or is it just the way government doesn't work? i would argue that what the president has not had is a good monitoring and early warning system that would allow him to sort of trouble shoot these kinds of problems so he is not blind-sided. that's what a chief executive is supposed to do and look at the problems we've had starting with the health care rollout. you know, this has become a very large issue for him because if he doesn't trust the way government works, how can he ask americans to trust the way government works? >> to say this va controversy isn't boosting people's view of the government. >> no. by the way, only 2% of the american public trust government to do the right thing all of the t

. >>> if shinseki leaves, is there someone in the wings that can clean up the va health care scandal. >>> space commuter, the new generation spacecraft can go to space and return with the accuracy of a helicopter. >>> plus, huge reaction to the nbc news exclusive with nsa leaker edward snowden. >>> the thrill of victory on and off the ice. >>> and rescued from the brink. it's friday, may 30th. "early today" starts right now. >> good morning. i'm dara brown. two billion dollars, that's houth t how much the l.a. clippers may be be going for. she signed a bidding contract for the sale of the clippers by the sterling family trust to former microsoft ceo steve balmer. commenting on the deal, balmer said he plans to do everything in his power to ensure the clippers continue to win in los angeles. he also thanked shelly sterling for her willingness to entrust him with the franchise. the reported sale comes ahead of a tuesday nba hearing aimed at ousting donald sterling from the league because of racially insensitive remarks he made. donald sterling vowed to fight the nba to keep the team. an

the director hellman is a director at the va health-care system here in phoenix.on administrative leech last week, told me that she plat flat out denies this. she makes roughly 169, 170,000 a year, her bonus hast year was about dt 9300. she scoff its at the notion that she would sit back an watch veterans die to make an extra $9,000 in bonus money. again, though, these are all allegations but if proven true they are serious allegations. but the chief of staff and hospital administrator vehemently deny that any secret waiting list was creted that they ever told staff to create the secret waiting list and the staff is really just confused with a change over from paperwork, actual paperwork to an electronic waiting list. again, you know, at this point it is a "he said, she said" until investigators get to the truth. >> phil carter at the national level, though, there is a lot of pressure now on general shinseki. >> a lot of pressure, a lot of folks are analogy gizing this to the walter reed scandal from 6 years ago where there were reports of terrible living continue

care system is facing. the problem for republicans at the heart of the va story are two basic truths. one, health care and wait times, not that great. two, the extent of the mismatch between the capacity of the va and demand for care has a lot to do with 14 years of open ended war. the president announced a new chapter in that war, possibly the final one, suggesting there may be an end in sight too elusive to end it. we will talk about that next. da(???? >>> i think americans have learned it is harder to end wars than it is to begin them. this is how wars end in the 20th century, transitions to elected governments, security forces who are trained to take the lead and ultimately full responsibility. >> huge news today about the longest war in our nation's history. after a memorial day weekend in which president obama made an unannounced trip to afghanistan, first visit in two years, met with troops. today he went to the rose garden, outlined a game plan for what will be this war's end, kind of. the plan announced would reduce u.s. presence to 9800 noncombat troops by 2015, from august

the va does provide world class health care. forms in management and administrative practices. there's no doubt. we certainly encourage vets to continue to go to the va especially if they're in crisis. >> you know, chris, what's shocking to me, it seems the president of the united states, secretary of veterans affairs, they were shocked to learn about all of these problems. that they really didn't know what was going on. lower level officials weren't telling them the truth. that's pretty shocking in and of itself. >> it is. you had the president today say, well how did this happen? at his speech earlier this morning, his last speak as secretary, eric shinseki said i was lied to. you have to ask yourself if they were lied to, why didn't they two to the ig reports, the independent investigative general? why didn't they look at that years of reports showing the wait times were a problem? they didn't answer congressional questions about this. when congress was trying to raise questions. they haven't answered any of drew's questions a

and we've been reporting repeatedly on this show that this type of problem has happened with va health careg to reduce its wait times, they have created all these incentives to make their employees make the wait times not look as bad as they are. and those incentives have created systems by which employees make it look not so bad, but it's still really bad. this has happened before. this recent round of criticism. the newest revelations that this type of thing is happening even now. they started last month in phoenix before they ended up spreading all across the country. and at that initial site in phoenix the inspector general's office asked va secretary eric shinseki to please suspend the director of the whole va medical center in phoenix while the inspector general investigation went forward. that happened on may 1st. shinseki suspended that director. and at shinseki hearing on thursday the big dramatic moment in the whole thing was when senators sat there in the hearing room and told the secretary that four days after he suspended that health chief one of his own top executives at his o

care. what's wrong with that? >> we should be open to looking at ideas that would work. the va hospital system from the early to mid 1800s, it's definitely not from the modern health care systemuld point out, however, that the average week time in private sector hospitals is not actually more than one day or so shorter than what is in the va hospital. what has happened here is fundamentally because of fighting two wars in the caseload has more than doubled in the last five years and we have not -- the budget of the va has not, in any way, kept up with this. >> it's very easy to start going back and blame the prior administration. i'm not here to blame anyone, but i'm here to say when it comes to conditions andhose that way, the average wait time is 112 days. >> there is a supply and demand problem here, they have all these new veterans pouring into the hospitals. and they don't have the primary care people or nurses to take care of them. the answer would've been for them to go to congress and say you're giving us an impossible task and many more docrs and nurses and we need more providers. but instead we got systematic cheating and denial of care to veterans who are sick and

va. so, i can tell you right now, dod health records are not being transferred into the va health care system. if you take a young o311 marine that gets injured and gets surgery and lunch, when he gets back home and goes into a va healthcare system and a doctor will ask him, what surgeries decide you have, he is not going to know the names of these surgeries. so, right there the va has to start from scratch and build a health profile on him. if there was a transfer of those health records or a joint health record, the va could access his dod health records and see exactly what surgery he has had. what medications he is on or what therapies he has needed. that's where the benefit would come into play. but not everybody was as fortunate as travis to actually have a copy. some of the injured show up at the va with nothing, no documentation at all. >> thank you, mr. minney, mr. fugate. i yield back. thank you. >> mr. takano. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. high huelskamp, that last question brought up some very, very bitter memory us. one of my first committee hearings was about this issue of the

care system is facing. the problem for republicans at the heart of the va story are two basic truths. one, healthand wait times, not that great. two, the extent of the mismatch between the capacity of the va and demand for care has a lot to do with 14 years of open ended war. the president announced a new chapter in that war, possibly the final one, suggesting there may be an end in sight too elusive to end it. we will talk about that next. [ female announcer ] grow, it's what we do. but when we put something in the ground, feed it, and care for it, don't we grow something more? we grow big celebrations, and personal victories. we grow new beginnings, and better endings. grand gestures, and perfect quiet. we grow escape, bragging rights, happier happy hours. so let's gro something greater with miracle-gro. what will you grow? share your story at miraclegro.com. marge: you know, there's a more enjoyable what will you grow? way to get your fiber. try phillips fiber good gummies. they're delicious, and an excellent source of fiber to help support regularity. wife: mmmm husband: these are good! marge

mooney, i spoke with the directors of the va health care facilities in colorado and asked them about waiting list in colorado and they told me there wasn't to their knowledge but with when the information comes out in a report like this that there are systemic problems throughout the country and we have problems getting the documents we want and trust has eroded. what can we say to the veterans to restore that trust? we have a problem with broken trust. >> congressman, we appear this evening in good faith to answer. the best course of action is the one that best serves the needs of our veterans and we pledge to work with you to get you what you need. >> ms. brown you are recognized. >> i have been on this committee for 22 years. first of all, before i began, i am going to put in the record a letter that i am sending to the governor of the state of florida. he is grand standing indicating that he is suing the va for the fact that he is sending people to the various va facilities around the state of florida and we wants to take a look at the records. you know this is the most grand sta

an allegation that led to a watchdog report that found systemic problems at va health care facilities across the nation. president obama announced the general's departure at the white house. >> a few minutes ago secretary inseki offered me his own resignation. with considerable regret i accepted. lou: the president went on to say that politics played a role in his decision. >> we occupy a not just a, an environment that calls for management fixes, we avenue also got to deal with congress and you guys and i think rick's judgment that he could not carry out the next stages of reform, without being a distraction himself. lou: those calls for shinseki to resign had snowballed this week. both republicans and a steady stream of democrats have been calling for his head. but on capitol hill house speaker john boehner today signaled shinseki's resignation would not put an end to the firestorm. >> general shinseki has dedicated to his life to our country and we thank him for his service. his resignation though does, does not absolve the president of his responsibility to step in and make things

done, and we see significant reports in how the admissions process takes place in all of our va health-care facilities. i know he cares about it deeply and he has been a great public servant and a great warrior on behalf of the united states of america. and after i get the full report. >> if he is not, who is. >> i think he serves this country because he cares deeply about veterans and cares deeply about the mission. and he does not think he's doing a good job on this and has led our veterans down, and he is committed to solving a problem, and i'm going to do everything in my power using the resources of the white house to help that process to get to the bottom of what happened. but i am also waiting to see what the results of all this review process yields. i don't know how systemic this is and i don't know if there are a lot of facilities that have been cooking the books and, and it is not an episodic problem. and wait times -- all kinds of circumstances with respect to the va getting benefits and health-care etc.. and the veterans affairs said a goal of 14 days for wait times. what is no

what we do see is a va health care system that veterans absolutely love. when they get into the system they love their doctor, they get get -- they love their health care team but it's very difficult to get in. >> these secret waiting lists do you see problems that go beyond that? >> we have seen problems for a while. we didn't call for secretary shinseki's resignation because of phoenix. phoenix is the final straw. the american leej has played a crucial -- lee legion has playea are market, now delays with credit care and secret wait lists. we are going obe pushing for leadership change and for whatever leadership that is in charge to fix these problems. we want to work with the department of veteran affairs. the american leej has been with the -- legion has been with the department every since it was a department. >> this is personal for you is and so many veterans that served this country. do you see this is a va that is just riddled with problems and how does that make you feel? >> it is a betrayal. i used the va. my father uses the va. my father's had

are nearly 22 million veterans in the united states, nearly 9 million of them enrolled in the va health careystem that includes more than 1200 va vet centers, hospitals and outpatient clinics. joining me now, nbc's chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. let's begin with the search for a new secretary. >> there is a list already circulating around the white house that includes general ray odierno, the current chairman of the joint staff, general marty syst dempsey. and colin powell has been kicked around. even robert gates. as i looked at the list and talked to people combing the list, i thought why would any one of those individuals take this job right now. >> that's leading to my next question what will the secretary have to deal with if they took this job? >> everybody's talking about throwing more money at the va. and i've talked to a lot of the people at the va over the years. and many people on capitol hill who believe that there is really no way -- not enough money to fix all the problems at the va. and it is not just about money. if you have a bureaucracy, such an entrenched b