As Lisa Vorderbrueggen reported on her Contra Costa Times blog today, Congressman Jerry McNerney is "outraged" at the Associated Press article revealing that VA officials have received hefty bonuses while services to veterans have been mired in neglect.
Congressman McNerney released the following statement this morning, as excerpted by Vorderbrueggen:
"I was outraged to read in an Associated Press story this morning that the Veterans Administration official who oversees the VA’s disability claims system received a $33,000 bonus. The VA has a serious backlog of cases and delays averaging 177 days in getting benefits to injured veterans.
“At a time when our men and women serving overseas are beginning to return home and enter the VA system with post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, it is unacceptable that the official in charge of a backlogged system would receive such a hefty bonus.
“This Congress has committed to ensuring our veterans receive high quality treatment when they return home from service overseas. And we’ve followed through, ensuring billions of additional dollars for VA services. Those additional funds are meant to be used to treat our veterans, not to reward those in charge of a system that needs fixing.
“Our veterans deserve our utmost respect when they return home. And their families deserve better than the lengthy bureaucratic maze they must currently navigate to ensure treatment for their loved ones. With a backlogged care system that even VA Secretary Jim Nicholson acknowledges is unacceptable, it is simply outrageous that an official in charge would receive a bonus.”
Click on the "Veteran Affairs" category of this blog to read more about Congressman McNerney's ongoing efforts to hold VA officials accountable and maintain services for veterans in both Livermore and San Joaquin County.
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