This, as Lisa Rein of the Washington Post writes, is how Senator Charles Grassley describes the VA. Which, as Emily Wax-Thibodeaux – also of the Washington Post – reports, is performing no better now than it was a year ago with:
With a “budget hearing scheduled for Thursday, VA leaders also warned that they are facing a $2.6 billion budget shortfall. They said they may have to start a hiring freeze or furloughs unless funding is reallocated for the federal government’s second-largest department.”
The failure of the VA begins to seem like something that is not fixable by any of the tools that are available. Hard not to feel that, short of truly radical reform, things are hopeless. Especially when:
Which is one sure way to pare down those waiting lists.
