Mike Doyle on Walter Reed

I've contacted a number of local members of Congress for their comments regarding the situation at Walter Reed hospital. Here's Congressman Mike Doyle's e-mailed to me earlier today:

The situation at Walter Reed is yet another glaring example of the incompetency and indifference of the Bush Administration. I have said many times that the Bush Administration is good at putting weapons into the hands of our soldiers and sending them all over the world to fight for our Country, they're no so good at taking care of them and their families when they come home and face financial and medical problems. It's mind-boggling that the officers in charge of Walter Reed knew these outrages were going on and did nothing to fix them. Then after the Washington Post broke the story, the Pentagon relieved the commander in charge and incredulously put the man who was most responsible for allowing these abuses - Lt. General Kevin Kiley - back in charge.

These outrages are the result of a Congress that has completely abdicated its oversight responsibilities for the past 6 years. The new democratic majority in Congress, although only in power for a little over two months, has committed to aggressive oversight of the Administration's treatment of our veterans and its conduct of the war in Iraq as well as many other matters. The American people voted for change last November and change they're going to get.

As a result of this outrage becoming public, the Army has finally installed a new command team at Walter Reed. Major General Eric Shoomaker, a doctor, will be the new commanding general and Brigadier General Michael Tucker has been named as deputy commanding general. General Tucker has combat experience and is highly respected as someone who cares about the troops. The Army has also added a number of caseworkers to help wounded soldiers and their families negotiate the administrative process. The Army has also dispatched teams to Army hospitals across the Country to identify problems like those at Walter Reed.

The President has appointed a bipartisan commission led by Bob Dole and Donna Shalala to look into the problems at our military hospitals and the new democratic majority in Congress has already begun a series of investigations and oversight hearings as well. This problem will be fixed.

Finally, a number of Members of Congress have called for the Army's Surgeon General, Lt. General Kevin Kiley to be fired - and I think it's just a matter of time until that happens.

Congressman Doyle is on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. I've e-mailed a question about whether similar problems are found throughout the Veterans' Health System and if so what is the Veterans' Affairs Committee planning on doing about it.

I'll post whatever I learn.

UPDATE: Congressman Doyle e-mailed me back. After pointing out that Walter Reed is not a part of the VA health system (they're indeed two separate systems) he wrote:

VA for the most part does a pretty good job. The employees at PGH are very dedicated and we have a great volunteer program also. The problem at VA is more of an access problem than a quality of care one. Unless you're 100% service connected disabled or indigent, you could have a hard time getting into the VA health care system. This is due to the system being underfunded by this administration. We have been fighting every year to get increases to VA health care in the budget. There is going to be a big story in Sundays PG about this

You heard it here first.