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DEMOCRATIC PRESS
RELEASE
November 19, 2008
-------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Kristal DeKleer at (202) 225-9756
Filner to VA: Confidence in VA Completely Shattered by Recent Document
Shredding
Washington, D.C. – House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Bob Filner
(D-CA) released this statement following today’s roundtable discussion on
the shredding of veterans’ documents by the VA:
“Today’s roundtable revealed a number of shortcomings within the VA that
are hardly new and most definitely failing our nation’s veterans.
“I am encouraged that the VA came forward and revealed that important
documents were slated for the shredding bin.
“I remain angry that a culture of dishonesty has led to increased mistrust
of the VA within the veteran community. A systemic lack of integrity seems
pervasive and that is a shame.
“First, I am not convinced that only 500 documents were saved from the
shredding bin. This is merely a snapshot in time. The VA was unable to
convince me that more documents have not been shredded in the past and I
honestly do not know how many records have been destroyed and how many
files lost over the past decades.
“Second, we have heard promises from the VA before. We have heard that the
claims process will go paperless. Training will be improved. VA’s latest
promise is that veterans can submit statements containing information that
will be used in the adjudication process in lieu of documents missing from
their files. While this is an important step forward, I am skeptical that
this new step will become part of the claims process.
 “Additionally,
the VA’s outreach has been limited to a reliance on media reports and a
message on the VA website. The VA did not report a systematic way of
reaching out to veterans to alert them of new policies that may have huge
implications in their claims going forward.
“Finally, Congress has routinely asked VA what it needs to adequately care
for veterans and the response has been that it is adequately poised. This
is clearly not adequate care for our veterans.
“Listen, this is a long-term systemic problem that will require
uncomfortable changes, long hours, unprecedented cooperation,
extraordinary progress, and a new system of independent oversight.
Clearly, the current system of self-reporting and internal regulation is
ineffective. Congress must hold the VA accountable for a job NOT WELL
DONE.
“A complete paradigm shift is necessary and I look forward to working with
new leadership to correct the problems plaguing the benefits claims
system. I am pleased that veterans have begun to work on transition issues
in the impending Obama Administration. I plan to work with veterans
service organizations, veterans, and the VA to fundamentally change the
way that the Veterans Benefits Administration conducts business.”
###
Chairman Filner provided this opening statement to begin the roundtable
discussion:
Good morning and welcome to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs’ roundtable
discussion on the very serious issue of the shredding of veterans
documents-- whether they are claims or other records.
On October 13th of this year, we…the Committee and our Veterans…were
shocked by the disturbing headline:
“SHREDDING OUR TRUST IN THE VA -- VA investigators find entire claims
and other critical documents in shredding bins at Detroit Regional
Office”.
A nationwide review of the VA's 57 regional offices found 41 had records
in their shredder bins that should not have been there. In all, nearly 500
benefit claims records had been erroneously slated for destruction,
including claims for compensation, notices of disagreement with a claim
decision, and death certificates.
These actions completely shatter confidence in the whole VA system. These
documents are matters of life and death for some of these veterans. This
episode has further strengthened my belief that VA desperately needs new
leadership, and it needs new leadership today. These incidents and
“mistakes,” all occurring to the detriment of our veterans and never to
their benefit, remind me more of the Keystone Cops rather than a
supportive organization dedicated to taking care of our veterans.
Shortly, we will hear from Admiral Patrick Dunne, the Under Secretary for
Benefits for the VA, who will give an overview of the situation and an
update on the VA’s actions regarding this intolerable situation. I suspect
that his comments will generate some lively discussion on the issue about
how we can best proceed from this point and never allow this to occur
again.
I purposefully chose this “roundtable” format, and invited stakeholders in
the veterans community, so that we can address this issue, have an
interactive discussion, and get to practical solutions to solve these
problems. Concerns have been raised that this meeting has not been called
a hearing. These concerns are unfounded and I think our veterans care less
about what we call it and more about what we do. It is vital that we
quickly get to the bottom of this and take concrete steps to correct and
fix this today -- not tomorrow or next week. We need to hear what the VA
is doing and the internal controls and protections that seemingly were in
place to prevent this, and what has been done since the incident. As I
said earlier, “These documents are matters of life and death for some of
these veterans”.
I believe this is a critical juncture for the VA. It is on the verge of
completely losing the trust and confidence of the people that it is
supposed to represent…the very same people it has been entrusted to care
for.
I believe the following statement in the article I cited previously
adequately sums up the current feelings of our veterans:
“This is not business as usual. The recent revelations of the willful
and wanton destruction of vital veteran’s records are not just another
"isolated incident." We have now moved to the next level of the game. What
was maddening last year is now possibly criminal.”
So this morning we are going to attempt to get a better idea of the scope
of this problem and what the VA is doing to respond to it. What specific
steps has the VA taken and what has it done to begin to rectify the
problem?
-------------------------
posted by Larry
Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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