Marco Rubio: Florida VA Office Problems Shows the Need for Reform

After the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reported there were almost 42,000 unopened packages and letters in the VA’s claims office in St. Petersburg, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., renewed his call to reform that department. 

“Once again, the Department of Veterans Affairs has failed to properly serve our nation’s veterans,” Rubio said on Thursday. “The thousands of backlogged claims at the St. Petersburg VA is outrageous and intolerable. I hear every day from veterans who will wait years for a decision from the VA on their medical conditions, with the average appeal time being over three-and-a-half years. This is just another example of the lack of transparency and broken bureaucracy found at the VA.

“It is now more important than ever that the accountability measures included in the VA law I helped pass in 2014 are implemented to hold incompetent, negligent and corrupt managers accountable,” Rubio added. “Furthermore, it is crucial that the VA Accountability Act of 2015 be passed into law this year so that the VA secretary has additional authorities to hold all VA employees accountable. This is one commonsense step we can take to ensure that our veterans receive the care they deserve.

“The incompetence and lack of accountability at the St. Petersburg VA, and at VA facilities around our entire country, is unacceptable,” Rubio concluded. “It is our duty as a nation to care for those who have cared for us. We must stand with America’s heroes and put an end to the dysfunction plaguing the Department of Veterans Affairs.”