Dole and Shalala will head up VA hospitals investigation
President Bush named former Sen. Bob Dole and former Secretary of Health and HumanServices Donna Shalala on Tuesday to lead an investigation of problemsat the nation’s military and veterans’ hospitals. “Wehave a moral obligation to provide the best possible care and treatmentto the men and women who served our country,” Bush said in a speech tothe American Legion. “They deserve it and they’re going to get it.” Already grappling with low approval ratings and eager to avoidcharges that he failed to act promptly, Bush said an interagency taskforce of seven Cabinet secretaries, led by Veterans Affairs SecretaryJim Nicholson, would be convened to determine what can be doneimmediately to improve veterans’ care. The president announced last Friday he had ordered a comprehensivereview of conditions at the nation’s network of military and veteranhospitals, which has been overwhelmed by injured troops from the warsin Iraq and Afghanistan. The review came in the wake of disclosures of shoddy outpatient healthcare at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, one of the nation’s premierfacilities for treating veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
How serious is the President about improving our vets’ care? You be the judge: look at his 2008 budget proposal.