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VA officials not held accountable

Why are top leaders at the Department of Veterans Affairs not firing bureaucrats by the dozens? That may be the question some veterans were asking during Memorial Day weekend, as one more VA scandal made headlines.

Just before leaving Washington for the holiday, leaders in Congress got the VA off a sharp hook, at least temporarily. It involves a new VA hospital being built in Aurora, Colo.

After spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the facility, the agency had run out of authority to pour more money into it. Lawmakers agreed to some budgeting changes that should keep construction from coming to a halt.

But Congress will have to provide a Colorado-sized mountain of new cash to complete the hospital, thanks to cost overruns.

A year ago, lawmakers had been assured the cost would be in the $600 million range. Now, the price tag is $1.74 billion.

Brace yourself for this: That is for a hospital with 184 beds. Your math is correct: That works out to more than $9.4 million per bed.

Good gracious! Are the bed pans to be made of solid gold?

There have been no reports anyone in the VA was fired or even slapped on the wrist because of the enormous cost overrun. The same goes for reports the agency has done virtually nothing to reduce long waiting times some veterans face when they ask for appointments with VA doctors. The agency has been given about a year and $5 billion to take care of that mess.

In fact, VA officials were more eager to cover their own backsides than to tackle the wait-list scandal. They had proposed using some of the $5 billion Congress provided for that purpose to handle the Colorado cost overruns. Lawmakers said no.

It is not as if the VA does not have plenty of real, dedicated talent in its ranks. Many veterans praise the care they get from some in the agency. Why, then, can’t the VA fire officials and employees who are incompetent, dishonest or selfish, and replace them with true public servants? Congress should not provide another dime for the monument to waste in Colorado until it gets an answer.

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