Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign on Tuesday walked back the Democratic front-runner’s weekend claim that issues with the Veterans Health Administration were not as “widespread” as Republicans and the media made them out to be.
Brian Fallon, Mrs. Clinton’s press secretary, told CNN that wait times and other mismanagement of care by the Department of Veterans Affairs were indeed “systemic” and said Mrs. Clinton will unveil her plan to reform the VA in November.
“Even now, too many of our veterans are still waiting an unacceptably long time to see a doctor, or to process disability claims and appeals,” Mr. Fallon said in a statement to CNN.
He said that Mrs. Clinton, as president, “will work to further reform the VA to make sure it truly works for our veterans and will demand accountability and performance from VA leadership.”
But those promises are too little, too late for some veterans groups who believe Mrs. Clinton’s newfound concern over the problems at the VA rings hollow.
“If the plight of veterans was a priority for Mrs. Clinton, she would already have a plan to reform the VA, not be promising one a month from now — and only after a serious campaign gaffe,” Pete Hegseth, CEO of Concerned Veterans for America, said in a statement on Tuesday.
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“She would not have been almost completely silent on veterans’ issues since 2008, staying on the sidelines while veterans were refused appointments and suffered needlessly at the hands of career-minded bureaucrats,” Mr. Hegseth continued. “Indeed, after declaring the VA to be not ’worthy of our veterans’ sacrifice,’ and calling the problems at one VA medical center ’just one symptom of a much larger problem,’ Mrs. Clinton gave up the fight for the veterans she claimed to cherish.”
On Friday, Mrs. Clinton told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that issues within the VA have “not been as widespread as it has been made out to be.”
Following harsh criticism from veterans groups, Mr. Fallon told CNN that Mrs. Clinton’s remarks on the VA were being “misinterpreted.”
Mr. Hegseth called the former secretary of state “out of touch” with veterans. Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), called her remarks a “head-scratcher.”
“This is not a winning argument — or factually correct,” he tweeted.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also took to Twitter to blast Mrs. Clinton’s remarks, saying she was flat-out “denying” that problems at the agency exist.
“Hillary denying the VA has a problem is an insult to our vets. We need to make fixing the VA a priority and I plan to do just that,” he tweeted.
Mr. Fallon told CNN that Mrs. Clinton will continue to work to improve the VA.
“(Hillary Clinton) will work to further reform the VA to make sure it truly works for our veterans and will demand accountability and performance from VA leadership,” Mr. Fallon said Tuesday.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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