FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, February 12, 2016
Contact: Amanda Maddox, 202-224-7777
Lauren Gaydos, 202-224-9126
Isakson Talks Veterans’ Health Care, VA Accountability on C-SPAN Newsmakers
‘If a man or a woman in the United
States of America… serves in harm’s way to protect each and every one
of us, they deserve every benefit that we have promised to them’
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, will be featured on
C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” this Sunday, February 14, 2016 at 10:00 ET and 6:00 p.m. ET.
In
light of the release of the president’s fiscal year 2017 budget
proposal, Senator Isakson will discuss the proposed budget for the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the importance of meeting
the needs of veterans while also being responsible stewards of taxpayer
money. He also talks about what the committee is doing to expand the
Veterans’ Choice Program to further ensure that all veterans have access
to timely and quality health care.
“If
a man or a woman in the United States of America volunteers to serve in
our Armed Services and serves in harm’s way to protect each and every
one of us, they deserve every benefit that we have
promised to them and one of those benefits is health care,” says Isakson in the interview.
“We should not shortchange our
veterans who risked their lives for us… We are going to continue to have
increased demand [for health care], and increased demand is going to
increase the amount of money we have to pay out. But the better the
quality [of health
care], the more timely the quality and the maximization of the private
sector by using Choice will take pressure off the cost of the VA.”
Isakson
also discusses efforts by the committee to ensure that leadership at
the VA has the authority to hold bad actors at the agency accountable.
Recently, the Merit Systems Protection Board overturned
the VA’s disciplinary actions against three executives, proving that
the VA is incapable of holding its employees accountable.
“We
have to have the ability to hold employees accountable and we have to
have the ability to reward employees when they’re doing a good job,”
Isakson continues.
“We want to make sure the
secretary has the ability to discipline within the department, those
that are disciplined have the ability to appeal but in a timely basis,
and people can be held accountable… Those people who are doing well can
be rewarded [and]
those that are not can be terminated. I am working to make sure that
is… a lasting medal of our committee in terms of what we accomplish this
year.”
You can watch Senator Isakson’s interview online now,
or live on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers” on Sunday, February 14, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. ET and 6:00 p.m. ET.
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The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is chaired by U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., in the 114th Congress.
Isakson
is a veteran himself – having served in the Georgia Air National Guard
from 1966-1972 – and has been a member of the Senate VA Committee since
he joined the Senate in 2005. Isakson’s home
state of Georgia is home to more than a dozen military installations
representing each branch of the military as well as more than 750,000
veterans.
