Our vets deserve the best

Like many Louisianians, I’ve been extremely frustrated with the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) commitment to taking care of our nation’s brave servicemen and women.

Unacceptably long wait times and poor leadership have plagued the VA in recent years, but I’m hoping we’ve turned the corner. The VA clearly required real reforms and stronger accountability, and for the sake of our veterans, I’ve been fighting to make improvements.

Long appointment wait times, unfulfilled promises to build additional veterans outpatient clinics in Louisiana, and their poor track record of putting negligent bureaucrats in charge of our veterans health care have been insulting.

Although we’re making improvements, we have work to do, starting with replacing with their new regional director, Dr. Skye McDougall, who has a controversial history while working for the VA. She actually was caught lying to Congress while under oath and testifying before a House Committee about patient wait times. Clearly, she cannot be trusted to oversee the health care network for Louisiana veterans, and I’ve led efforts to hold her accountable, making that crystal clear to the head of the VA.

I refuse to accept a lower standard just because it’s the status quo, and I cannot stress strongly enough that our veterans deserve the absolute best service possible.

One major bright spot is that the Acadiana and Southwest outpatient clinics are finally on track. Just last week, Sen. Bill Cassidy, Congressman Charles Boustany and I called VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson and Peter Dancy, the new director of the Alexandria Veterans Affairs Health Care System (AVAHCS), to make sure that they will complete the new clinics by the end of this year as promised. The VA had delayed these clinics for years, and we are going to remain diligent in keeping them on track.

For those who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms, the least we can do is continue pushing the VA to move as quickly as possible to open the doors of permanent clinics in Acadiana and Southwest Louisiana.

The VA needs to continue getting their act together, and Louisianans can rest assured that I will continue cutting down all bureaucratic red tape until our veterans are treated in the way they deserve. •