A Democratic Senate candidate in Missouri dismissed Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald’s comparison of wait times at Disney to wait times at the scandal-plagued VA as a “dumb comment” in an attack on his GOP opponent.
Jason Kander, Missouri secretary of state, blasted incumbent Republican Sen. Roy Blunt for “using veterans as props” without addressing underlying problems at the VA in a statement Tuesday.
“Secretary McDonald made a dumb comment, but Sen. Blunt’s record of cutting veterans benefits and using veterans as props in his press conferences doesn’t make him the voice of authority here,” Kander said.
“The St. Louis VA has been without a director for nearly three years and has been set back because of it. So Sen. Blunt of all people should know another resignation at the VA will likely only make things worse,” he added.
Kander’s comments came hours after Blunt called for McDonald’s resignation given the backlash over his Disney comparison.
The VA has weathered controversy over long veteran wait times since 2014, when the public learned officials at 110 VA facilities around the country had created fake patient waiting lists to cover up delays in healthcare.
