All Things Considered’s Tom Cramm talks with DFL Congressman Tim Walz about his perspective on the resignation of Eric Shinseki as the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs and on the larger VA investigations. Walz had called for Shinseki’s resignation after a VA scandal in Phoenix, Arizona.
Walz represents Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District. He is on the House Committee on Veteran Affairs.
TOM CRANN: It's All Things Considered from Minnesota Public Radio News. I'm Tom Crann. President Obama, today, accepted the resignation of Eric Shinseki as the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, with considerable regret, as he put it. Sloan Gibson, the agency's number 2 official, will serve as temporary secretary. Obama also said the Justice Department would determine if any illegality had occurred. We get more perspective now from a Minnesota member of Congress who called for Shinseki's resignation and serves on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. First District DFL Congressman Tim Walz joins me from Washington. Good afternoon, Congressman.
TIM WALZ: Yeah. Thanks for having me, Tom.
TOM CRANN: So will this resignation today actually make anything better at the VA? Because I understand before the resignation, Shinseki actually fired some of the officials in Phoenix who were involved in this problem.
TIM WALZ: Yeah. Well, first of all, and this was never about the integrity or the honor of General Shinseki's service to this nation. This was about results for our veterans that were absolutely unacceptable and inexcusable. And I think, as people said, as there always needs to be a scapegoat and things like that. This is not about that. It's one about accountability, but it's also about making it clear that there needs to be a culture change.
Because the folks that were serving under the Secretary certainly let him down and let our veterans down. So I think it's the step. The things that the Secretary outlined this morning in his speech prior to it are things that need to be implemented and things that need to be done. But I don't think it was possible to focus on those things while there was still the cloud over of what was going to happen.
TOM CRANN: Now, you are on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, and I'm wondering if in that role you see anything here, saw anything in a report or from General Shinseki earlier today, that would lead you to think that more investigation is necessary here, for example, the Joseph Department determining any illegality.
TIM WALZ: Yes. Yes, I do. And I think there was a system, a perverse system that was set up. And there are literally thousands of employees that go to every day to work in the VA to serve our warriors and do so admirably. And I am glad they're there, because they could have been in the private sector.
But there are apparently some individuals, the only conclusion I can come to is that they were manipulating these numbers to look better on paper, that had an influence on their performance reviews. And that is not only immoral, in my opinion, it appears to me like it may be illegal. And I want someone to find that out.
And I can tell you, from my experience again, the frustrations I have sometimes with a bureaucracy that is unwilling to see us as partners in the House Veterans Affairs Committee and the Oversight. And I want to be very clear, Jeff Miller, the Republican chairman of this, there's not a better person to lead this up. There's not a better man of integrity in trying to get this right.
And the public can actually see how Congress is supposed to work together. And we've been asking for months for some of this information. We couldn't get it. We subpoenaed. We couldn't get it. I think the next thing now is that we're probably going to have to go to the courts.
TOM CRANN: Now, your office sent us a report earlier in the week about how VA facilities are doing here in Minnesota when it comes to wait times.
TIM WALZ: That's right.
TOM CRANN: New patients wait a little longer, but it seems like in Minnesota, if I can summarize, things are pretty much certainly on target or beating targets, beating goals. First of all, does any of this now make you mistrust the data in that report, when in fact, in Phoenix they were faking those times?
TIM WALZ: Oh, abs-- And I think on this is that skepticism is the word of the day. And I think, Tom, that it would be foolish to absolutely not verify and triple-check this. The one difference I would say in Minnesota is the collaborative relationship between the VA providers and the director in Minneapolis, Director Kelly, is that he holds weekly meetings with his consumer advocacy group, which is basically American Legion, disabled American-- Paralyzed Veterans of America, VFW.
And when those folks went with me when we did our audit prior to the VA doing it, these folks in these organizations said it would surprise us if this is happening because we're here every day as patient advocates. And while we're still going to continue to look, we're not satisfied with all of the data that's there. I think the collaborative approach that Minnesota has taken put the transparency into the system that made it harder to do that.
TOM CRANN: Congressman Tim Walz represents Minnesota's First Congressional District, a DFLer. Thanks so much for your time today.
TIM WALZ: Thank you. Tom
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