The mushrooming Veterans Affairs scandal is indicative of the Obama administration's "disdain" for the military, U.S. Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia believes.
"This administration seems to have a disdain, maybe even a hatred for the military, as well as our veterans," Broun told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newmax TV.
"Just from the military perspective, I was talking … to a three-star Army general. He didn't have enough rounds of ammunition for his troops to go out to the rifle range and just requalify with their rifles."
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"I've talked to pilots who don't have enough fuel for their helicopters, their jet aircraft, and their transport aircraft to stay current. This is totally unacceptable, and the American people need to rise up and say no to this administration."
Doctors working at VA facilities in Phoenix say managers ordered them to place chronically ill patients on a secret waiting list.
The patients reportedly remained on the list until appointments opened up on an official list in line with the VA's wait-time goals — delays which allegedly caused the deaths of 40 veterans.
U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, appearing before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee this week, vowed a "timely'' response to the allegations, although some lawmakers, including Broun, want his resignation.
"Sixteen of us in the House wrote a letter dated May 12 to the president asking that Gen. Shinseki be fired," Broun said.
"The rot starts at the top, and this secretary of veterans affairs has been just absolutely awful as an administrator …
"We've got to take care of our troops, we've got to take care of our veterans. This administration has been deplorable in doing that.''
Broun, a tea party caucus member and a medical doctor, said the major function of the federal government under the Constitution is a strong national defense.
"And we've got to take care of our veterans on the backside of serving if we're going to have good people come in and be senior officers or flag officers, the generals and admirals, and we're just not doing so," Broun said.
"The federal government has promised these veterans that they're going to be taken care of, and it's not just those veterans that are dying in Arizona.
"We've had three deaths that probably could have been prevented in Decatur, Ga. We've had … over 5,000 veterans that needed colonoscopies at the Charlie Norwood VA center in Augusta, Ga., that were delayed."
Broun said Obama must fire Shinseki immediately.
"I don't understand why he has not already said, you're gone, today, yesterday. He should have been gone … It's infuriating as far as I'm concerned," he said.
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