Congressional lawmakers are putting together a bill to reform the Veterans' Affairs medical system after reports that veterans were dying while waiting for appointments, and former Army helicopter pilot Amber Barno says the measure may help bring about the needed change.
"There's a VA reform bill that's going through the VA conference committee right now," Barno told John Bachman on "America's Forum" on
Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
"Once that gets to the president's desk and it gets signed, if it has the right language in it and the right procedures to fix the VA, which starts with accountability practices… then I think we might see some change," she explained.
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The Army veteran said that she also hopes that the confirmation of Robert McDonald, the man nominated to replace former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki, will also make a difference.
The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee is scheduled to begin confirmation hearings next week.
"The first thing that he needs to show his employees is leadership because it's been significantly lacking within the VA," Barno said.
"The second thing is accountability. He needs to have a no-nonsense approach to his employees, especially his top tier management," she added.
"He needs to go in clean house, replace it with fresh leadership who is going to take this seriously… who are going to come in, take their job seriously and fix the VA."
She also discussed military reaction to the prisoner exchange with the Taliban that led to Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's return.