Bob Kerrey: VA head Shinseki must go

Joe Jordan | Nebraska Watchdog

Medal of Honor recipient Bob Kerrey says the man in charge of the Department of Veterans Affairs must go.

The former Nebraska Governor and Senator who lost the lower part of one leg in Vietnam and has long insisted the VA “saved my life,” tells Nebraska Watchdog that President Obama needs to replace Secretary Eric Shinseki immediately.

Nebraska Watchdog: Do you have any interest in taking that job?

Bob Kerrey: Joe, I’m too old for it. We need a younger veteran—preferably one who was injured in Iraq or Afghanistan— because those are the guys who need to be at the front of the line, not the Vietnam Veteran. The guys who need to be at the front of the queue are the guys who did four and five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan who are coming back with way more trauma and more difficulty than we did out of Vietnam.

Shinseki is under fire from Republicans and Democrats for a growing scandal over delayed medical care and falsified record-keeping at the VA.

At the same time though Kerrey tells Nebraska Watchdog some claims are not warranted and the next head of the VA also has to have the “stature” to say no.

“We have over 300 men over the age of 90 who’ve applied for 100 percent disability because they say the PTSD they acquired in the Second World War keeps them from having to work,” says Kerrey. “The number one disabling claim today is ringing in the ears.”

According to Kerrey although Shinseki, a retired four star Army general, is a terrific man he’s “lost confidence of the veterans community and he’s lost the confidence of the Congress.”

Contact Joe Jordan at joe@nebraskawatchdog.org

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