but we developed a pretty strong ally when secretary shinseki came on board. during his tenure as secretary, we saw three significant changes from the status quo. first thing that happened was the v.a. began contracting with alaska's tribal health care providers to care for our veterans, both our native veterans and our nonnative, who lived outside the reach of any v.a. facilities. so if you're a veteran living in bethel, doesn't make any difference whether you're native or nonnative, you could receive care through the tribal health care providers. and they were compensated by the v.a. at the same rate that the indian health service pays them. so the second thing we saw them with secretary shinseki, i would commissioned an inspector general inquiry into the allegations that the v.a. was sending our alaska vets to seattle and to other points even further than seattle for care that could be purchased from community providers in alaska. it was a situation where literally you had -- you had a veteran who was dealing with cancer, needed radiation or chemotherapy tr

the secretary since he replaced shinseki, look at the pure statistics, wait lists are down, backlogs of claims, unemployment for iraq and afghanistan veterans, way down. when you look at his track record, the metrics for the new secretary is very strong and i think that's why you saw senator mccain say listen, i think it was a stupid thing to say, but i don't think he should resign. >> what do you make of those that called for him to resign? do you think there's cause and what's your interpretation? >> my interpretation of roy blunt, a candidate we actively support in missouri, served in afghanistan, current secretary of state, was rating a lot of money against roy blunt. roy blunt has been exposed as someone that lied about draft affirmance, came out three months ago in missouri, he is someone that didn't serve in vietnam and somebody who obviously feels vulnerable on military and veterans issues because for 40 years said he had draft deferments he never had. >> is not serving in vietnam a reason not to be in office? >> not at all, but in senator blunt's case, he feels exposed that

. >> a few minutes ago, secretary shinseki offered me his own resignation.h considerable regret, i accepted. >> sreenivasan: the resignation of v.a. secretary eric shinseki, a decorated, former chief of staff, was one of the most visible signs of a crisis that gripped the v.a. in 2014. it started when doctor sam foote, at the phoenix v.a. blew the whistle on the incredibly- long waiting times for veterans to see doctors at his facility. dr. foote told reporters, including gwen ifill, that the hospital's director manipulated the data to make the waits seem much shorter. >> we were doing pretty well until about 2010, and then the demand just ramped up. and rather than own up to the problem, the v.a. decided to cover it up, because there's no incentive for washington to get good numbers. >> sreenivasan: the v.a. inspector general found that phoenix-area veterans seeking care had to wait an average of 115 days-- almost four months-- for a first appointment. and 1,700 veterans were kept off any official waiting list, and were at risk of being lost or forgotten. o

>> no, i don't think so, but it's clear that what's happened to mcdonald happened to general shinseki came in and supposed to be running the va, they've been captured by the bureaucracy. what was he trying to say? he was trying to say it was okay there wast long waits. who causes the long waits? the bureaucracy. charles: appreciate it. great show tonight, we appreciate you at home watching every single night, doing well and it's because of you, you don't want to miss a moment of "making money," but also don't want to miss a moment of lou dobbs. he's next. lou: good evening, everybody. i'm lou dobbs. donald trump not hesitating to take on the task of educating a generation of voters who know little about monica lewinsky and her blue dress, even less about the years of scandal and controversy that the clintons and national liberal media have tried their best to bury. there seems to be no event, no element of the clinton history trump will ignore, and it appears his strategy is producing the desired results. yesterday, he highlighted the rape and sexual assault allegations that over the

you know we had shinseki that resigned.t same time we continue all placement of blame but anyone at va or administration. we need to realize these kind of off-the-cuff comments are doing more harm than good to our veterans and to do something like that is just completely insulting, to even compare it to disney in the sense of when they're going to these va hospitals. deirdre: not for vacation. >> it is not. deirdre: nothing enjoyable. sara, i want to bring you in on this, some people say, who know bob mcdonald, he is good guy, west point grad, he went there to reform the system many people considered broken and then apparently over the years has just been worn down. is that the most likely explanation? being. >> well, look i'm going to side with jim garrity from "national review" on this a stupid comment is a stupid comment and it was incredibly stupid comment but real complaint the wait times are still incredibly long. the main thing the va is changed how they're measuring wait times which is actually now when a veteran ge

mcdonald's a guy who was brought into fix the va and replace general eric shinseki, forced to resignfter reports of our veterans dying while waiting, that's right, waiting for care, in lines that were even longer then. but the bunglers and the bureaucratic nightmare not limited to the va permeating indeed the entire federal government. the irs commissioner, john koskinen facing the prospect of impeachment. imagine that. people the! the commissioner is accused of lying to congress in the agency's conservative targeting scandal, and this, also the same man who ultimately replaced former irs head steven miller, the very same bureaucrat who stonewalled congress and got away with it and helped lois lerner slip from the commerce committee's grasp and got away with it, do you notice a trend with our nation's bureaucrats? and now the tsa, this week trying to hold itself accountable just a little for the maddening, frustrating, still growing lines at our nation's airports. the head of security operations kelly hoggin removed from his post. but no, he wasn't fired. no, no, no, the bureaucrats

secretary, retired army general eric shinseki, the job in 2014. after a v.a.tor blew the whistle at a phoenix facility, an inspector general investigation found that phoenix-area veterans seeking care had to wait an average of 115 days, almost four months, for a first appointment. 1,700 veterans were kept off any official waiting list, and were at risk of being lost or forgotten. other investigations found this type of problem existed at many v.a. hospitals throughout the u.s. more recently the g.a.o. reported that the v.a.'s system for tracking how long veterans have to wait for an appointment was flawed, making it hard to identify and remedy scheduling problems. the v.a.'s network of hospitals and clinics is one of the largest health care systems in the u.s., with hundreds of thousands of veterans in need of care. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: should the u.s. soldiers involved in the afghan hospital attack be court-martialed? but first, what science is still learning from the survivors of the hiroshima and nagasaki bombings. this week

. >> we've had general shinseki, mcdonald, these are good men trying to horne promises but trying tol we start realizing more the bureaucracy? >> he can stay in your mind? >> it's an enormous challenge. i don't envy his task, trying to corral in this bureaucracy. again, i believe the solution to be allowing our veterans to enter private health care. have the v.a. system forcus on things like missing limbs, specific deals, and specific injuries but let our vets access private health care. >> donald trump. you say you support him but don't endorse him. that's the difference? >> i intend to support our nominee. we need to grow our economy. allowing it to realize its full potential. reducing the regulatory burden. securing our borders. enormous problem, our lack of security of the border. >> he talks about all of those things. >> that what i'm saying. i will be concentrating on the areas of agreement to build our economy, to build our military, to defeat isis, secure our borders. if we do that, concentrate on those areas of agreement that unify as as a party we'll be in pretty good shape

and at that time when general shinseki had to leave, when the president turned to him, he said yes. now, that comes in character with his whole life story. he was -- he was -- went to west point. graduated in the top 2% of his class. commissioned as an army officer. was a ranger. if any of you have been in the military, you know what that means. superb officer. and then went on to become an eminently successful businessman at procter & gamble, that's when we first met. so for him to come out of private life and into a time when america needs him, it is an enormous privilege for us to have him serve at this time and it's a privilege for all of us to have him talk with us today. so, could i ask you with your very warm applause welcome the secretary of the veterans affairs administration, bob mcdonald. >> thank you, john, for that very warm introduction. there was no question in my mind when i got the call from the white house that this was something i desperate lir waly to do. what higher calling could there possibly be. john rightly pointed out when you think back to president lincol

it has been nearly two years since va secretary eric shinseki resigned, amid a series of scandals. at the time, the president said, and i quote, "the number one priority is making sure that problems get fixed." but problems have not been fixed, and it's not clear whether it's a priority for this administration. despite receiving more funding, the va is still taking too long to process claims. wait times are actually worse. despite receiving more authority to clean up the bureaucracy, the va has held almost no one accountable for manipulating wait times. meanwhile, some of the same people responsible for these problems received bonuses, as if nothing happened. that's unacceptable, as far as i'm concerned. to you, these are life and death issues. but too often at the va, it is business as usual. we cannot accept that. that's why, in recent months, the house and the senate have been working on reforms to boost accountability and improve care. just last week, the house passed legislation -- bipartisan legislation, by the way -- to address the drug addiction problem that is so prevalent