Senator Bernie Sanders is one of two Democrats left standing to challenge President Trump this November. While I hold several reservations about Senator Sanders politically, which include his favorable perspective of big government, his admiration for communism, and his general far-left views on any social issue — his work and history on veterans issues is the most alarming.
Veterans were dying waiting for care under Senator Sanders’ lack of leadership when he oversaw the VA committee and it is about time a veteran called him out on it.
Sanders chaired the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (SVAC), a powerful oversight committee responsible for ensuring the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) operates as best as possible for our veterans, from 2013-2015.
In short, the VA has three agencies underneath its shell: the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), and the National Cemetery Administration (NCA). The first operates the largest integrated healthcare system in the country for veterans, the second provides education, disability compensation, home loans, etc., and the last manages final burial of veterans. Arguably, the first agency is the most vital as veterans literally depend on the agency for their lives in many cases. It also stands as a beacon for “universal health care” politicians for why single-payer health care is king.
In 2014, the national news media went wild for months and months as news broke that whistleblowers had come forward to reveal veterans may have died waiting for health care on secret waiting lists. In one case, it was confirmed that staff members at the veterans hospital in Phoenix, Arizona were so overwhelmed that they created off-the-books waiting lists to mask and keep delays invisible, and it carried on for months. At the same time these horrible senior leaders (many later fired) at the top of this chain of command received bonuses.
It was sad, but true.
Despite more and more evidence coming forward as the news broke, Sanders was quoted in the press suggesting the reports were overblown and he did not want to rush to judgment.
While the U.S. House of Representatives’ Veterans Affairs Committee held numerous and constant hearings, Senator Sanders only held 7 oversight hearings in the first 17 months of his tenure. Later he admitted in a public interview things could “have been better” in the response.
The signature law that followed the congressional response to this scandal included increased funding for VA hospitals and expanded community care (care the VA pays for which enables a veteran to see a private doctor outside the system but still remain in the custody of the VA system).
There was one big problem that came out of the bill though, and it is Sanders’ legacy and fault: he demanded protections for the employees that caused the scandal. He worshipped the government affairs unions and was obedient to their wishes on legislative negotiations and even when veterans groups and independent veteran policy professionals insisted that the agency managers be able to fire bad employees caught putting veterans’ lives in danger, Sanders fought to keep the Merit System Protection Board (MSPB) in a strong position and to stop real reform. The MSPB is a federal entity that hears appeals and often would put bad employees back in place and is informally known as a corrosive union influenced organization.
Senator Sanders and his pro-union pandering is dangerous, proves universal health care can be a total failure without accountability and choices built in for the customers, and has resulted in the death of veterans.
Senator Sanders is a failure on veterans issues and his legacy is big government union pandering at a time when we needed real leadership.
Sanders failed on veterans issues and a Sanders presidency would be a very dangerous thing for veterans like me that rely on a modern VA health care system with choice for health care and honest employees.
President Trump, on the other hand, has delivered on the VA Accountability Act, which was stalled under the Obama administration when the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) opposed the policy changes in this law that would have allowed for the needed firing authority to remove bad employees. President Trump took a “veterans first” approach largely shared by national veterans groups, Republicans and most Democrats that called for more accountability at the agency and expanded private care.
Senator Sanders opposed swift accountability at the VA, supported unions over veterans, and even when veterans died waiting for care refused to pursue meaningful reform.
Christopher Neiweem is an Iraq War Veteran, Founder of the American Veterans Policy Network (AVPN) an independent policy communications platform, and has testified as an expert witness in both the U.S. House of Representatives, and the U.S. Senate on issues ranging from defense, aviation, veterans health, and foreign policy. He is a national cable news contributor who frequently appears on networks such as CNN, Fox News Channel and in print publications such as the LA times, Washington Examiner, Newsmax, USA Today, and The Hill.