Despite the VA’s clear and egregious failures over the last several years, President Obama has balked at one of the key reforms recommended by the Commission on Care, the panel Congress established to examine VA practices.
The Commission recommended establishing a board of directors responsible for VA operations, but the President doesn’t want to undermine the authority of the bureaucrats he’s already put in place.
“The governance limitations made evident in the Phoenix scandal have profound implications for the long term,” the commission’s report stated. “The Commission believes [the Veterans Health Administration] must institute a far-reaching transformation of both its care delivery system and the management processes supporting it.”
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.), a vocal proponent of the need for VA reform, took issue with Obama’s rejection of the recommendations.
“I am disappointed the President refuses to acknowledge the fundamental changes that need to be made to the VA’s governance structure to ensure that our nation’s veterans get the care they need in a timely manner,” McMorris Rodgers, who has introduced draft legislation that would overhaul VA health care management and delivery, told the Washington Free Beacon.
Federal bureaucracies are plagued with waste, fraud, and abuse. To make matters worse, reforming these bulky, unresponsive agencies is nearly impossible, as the officials responsible for them (like the President) don’t want to relinquish their authority in order to allow the necessary changes to take place.
Bureaucratic reforms cannot begin in Washington -- our federal officials are more interested in maintaining their influence than making tough decisions. Reforming the federal regulatory state must begin with the states and the people via an Article V Convention of States.
A Convention of States is called and controlled by the states and the people. It has the power to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution that reduce the power and jurisdiction of our federal agencies, ensuring needed reforms take place and real accountability exists within the D.C. bureaucracy.
