News Releases

Sen. Moran Responds to President Obama VA Remarks

"There is a difference between wanting change and leading it to happen."

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, released the following statement today in response to President Obama’s press conference following a meeting with Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Eric Shinseki:

“It took one month since news broke of the secret wait lists and veteran deaths at a Phoenix VA hospital for Americans to hear from the Commander in Chief. Every day that we have waited for President Obama and Secretary Shinseki to show leadership, new complaints and concerns poured in from whistleblowers, veterans and veteran family members across the country. These reports are symptoms of the systemic dysfunction within the VA system that has been developing for years – yet the White House says they only just learned about them on television. The President echoed Secretary Shinseki in stating that action will be taken if the ‘allegations prove to be true.’ The fact is, many of these cases are not new – they have already been investigated and substantiated in years past, yet no action has been taken. There is a difference between wanting change and leading it to happen.” 

“I continue to demand accountability and true transformation within the VA system in its culture from top to bottom and all across the country. In the absence of dramatic change at the VA, it is clear that we are not prepared for the servicemen and women who are returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are not capable of caring for our aging veterans as we promised we would and as every American knows we should. We should not rest until our veterans have a Department of Veterans Affairs worthy of their service and sacrifice.”