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For years, veterans of army service and their households have apprehensive concerning the Division of Veterans Affairs.
Information of prolonged waitlists, huge value overruns on new services and comparable outrages was, to say the least, worrisome.
It acquired worse in 2018, when what occurred at a VA hospital in Clarksburg, West Virginia, got here to gentle. At the least eight veterans had been murdered there.
Earlier this yr, a former nursing assistant on the hospital, Rita Mays, pleaded responsible to killing the lads. For greater than a yr, she had been injecting her victims with deadly doses of insulin.
How Mays acquired away along with her killing spree could stay a thriller. Taking steps to safeguard veterans towards homicidal maniacs equivalent to her sooner or later is significant.
Members of Congress — led, it ought to be famous, by West Virginia’s delegation — reacted in shock and anger. In December 2019, the Enhancing Security and Safety for Veterans Act was authorized by the Senate. It was handed a number of days in the past by the Home of Representatives and despatched to President Donald Trump for his signature.
Below provisions of the ISSVA invoice, Veterans Affairs is required to submit common experiences on the security of veterans handled at its services, in addition to the standard of care offered to them. The experiences will go to Congress.
“Congress should do every part it might probably to make sure this by no means occurs once more,” U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., mentioned of Mays’ murders. “This invoice is simply step one towards that aim,” he added.
Members of Congress can’t be anticipated to know the intricacies of all the problems with which they deal. That’s the reason they’ve employees members who can change into specialists and advise the lawmakers.
Every chamber of Congress ought to be sure that it has a minimum of one certified employees member with the experience and time to look at the VA experiences sooner or later — and, if obligatory, wave the crimson flag if one thing of concern is seen. Oversight payments are vital, however they’re worthless except backed up by attentiveness.
editorial@tribtoday.com
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