There Really is a Scandal Regarding the VA

I think there has been significant awareness that Veterans' Affairs hasn't necessarily been able to meet the needs of the people this agency is supposed to serve, and while in some ways, it is trying to come up to some degree of efficiency, such as processing disability claims in a more timely manner, we've known since 2007 with the Walter Reed scandal that there was a genuine problem with neglect of our servicemembers and vets. That seven years later and with a change in the White House, we're hearing that the Phoenix VA Health Care System was not just unable to meet the needs of the people relying on them for care, but had the temerity to cover it up, is breath-taking in that these facilities should have been looked at first thing to see what was needed. That it's just now we're auditing them seems to suggest that we only realize stock must be taken of a situation once it has deteriorated to the point where people are dying--

And yet it does seem like we can easily ignore taking stock of the situation when the time comes to fund veterans' services, doesn't it?  I mean, by "we" I mean Republicans, because I think if there are manpower and facility-related costs to be addressed in the system--that would probably be something we could fix by trying to match costs to needs as opposed to making funding contingent on other matters like foreign policy questions that should be irrelevant to whether promised services are delivered.  I don't think Dems can be accused of wanting to starve government programs and I don't think people like Senator John McCain, who has voted against properly funding the VA many times, should be in such a hurry to point fingers. (It's no new story, but maybe a little ironic that someone who is so eager to send our folks to battle gives so few shits what happens to them when they get home.)

I will freely admit there is a real scandal here--I will only also submit that responsibility is very much shared.