WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House chief of staff says President Barack Obama is “madder than hell” about reports of treatment delays at veterans’ hospitals across the country.
Top aide Denis McDonough tells CBS’ “Face the Nation” that Obama is demanding that Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki (shin-SEHK’-ee) and others in the administration “continue to fix these things until they’re functioning the way that our veterans believe they should.”
Allegations of preventable deaths that may be linked to delays at the Phoenix VA hospital have triggered an election-year uproar.
On Friday, the top official for veterans’ health care resigned.
House Republicans have set a vote for Wednesday on legislation that would give Shinseki greater power to fire or demote executives and administrators at the agency and its 152 medical centers.