Bakersfield City Council should reject new VA clinic
The Bakersfield City Council is set to allow for the construction of a new clinic to serve local veterans. While an updated clinic is needed, the new clinic being considered raises serious concerns; including a potentially inappropriate political influence campaign, as well as the practicality concerns for Bakersfield veterans. The City Council should oppose approval of this clinic until we can get it right.
I am concerned the new clinic is being constructed because officials at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ( VA), the federal agency that oversees the health care of the men and women who served in our nation’s armed services, succumbed to political pressure from Bakersfield Congressman and the House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. In doing so, the VA may have discounted or ignored a competing proposal to update the current clinic.
In fact, the proposal being voted on by the City Council would take years to complete, and cost millions of dollars more, than simply updating or rebuilding the current VA clinic. The current VA clinic is also in a business district, convenient to other medical service providers. A Google search shows the proposed new location is tucked away in a more remote area.
My organization, which fights for government policies to benefit veterans, and a prominent government watchdog in Washington, have sent letters to the VA’s Inspector General to look into the matter. My concern is the plan backed by the VA did not adhere to proper review, and simply backed a project at the behest of Rep. McCarthy, instead of considering what is best for veterans. I have not heard back from the Inspector General, and therefore cannot know whether this is being investigated.
Keep in mind, the watchdog organization that originally exposed this matter found a pretty clear case of Congressman McCarthy using every tool at his disposal to pressure the VA to approve this new clinic. This even included (perhaps unintentionally) misleading his colleagues in congressional testimony, where he misstated the cost and size of the current clinic.
Additionally, in a matter of weeks, a new executive is set to take over the VA, and we should give this secretary time to review what is happening in Bakersfield. In fact, the new secretary is
Dennis McDonough, President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff, and by all accounts, a serious person known for his focus on good government, not politics.
To be sure, the current clinic is not sufficient. It needs to be modernized to offer our veterans the best possible health care. But because of the political pressure that McCarthy applied to the federal agency in charge of this process, I do not have confidence that the new clinic is the best bet for local veterans.
Finally, as a veteran myself, who has dealt with the long wait times and poor treatment at the hands of the VA, I do not take this situation lightly. A new clinic could improve matters, but I am not convinced that updating the old clinic isn’t easier, quicker and more cost effective.
Shouldn’t we let the VA investigate what happened before the City Council gives a green light to a new clinic that may not be in the best interests of Bakersfield’s veterans?