Ted Poe: “On Memorial Day, I was at Houston National Cemetery with Texas veterans and their families. They were irate about the…”

“On Memorial Day, I was at Houston National Cemetery with Texas veterans and their families. They were irate about the allegations against the VA. They want to know what we plan to do about it. In a July 2012 speech, President Obama said: ``I promised to strengthen the VA, and that promise has been kept.'' Thanks to whistleblowers, we now know that statement is not accurate. The more we hear about the VA's treatment of veterans, the worse it gets. And over the past few weeks, we have learned that 26 VA facilities nationwide are being investigated for cooking the books, ensuring that the long wait times sick veterans have to endure are hidden from the public. Secret waiting lists, hidden agendas all driven by the greed of those at the highest level of the VA. Why greed? Why cook the books? Because if wait times are reported low, VA officials receive bonuses. VA workers have allegedly used different tactics and strategies to give the impression that they were meeting the Department's standard of seeing patients between 14 and 30 days. To promote this lie, the Phoenix VA hospital allegedly had a secret waiting list to conceal delays and wait times. Meanwhile, dozens of patients' conditions worsened, and many died waiting in line. It has been reported that between 1,400 and 1,600 sick veterans had to wait months to see a doctor. The Phoenix VA was not the only place where fraud took place.…”