Either Tammy Duckworth told a tale to the people of Illinois or her award-winning ineffectiveness now includes failing to convince the VA secretary to address long wait lines.
Last week, on the very day she learned that she will soon become the latest Chicago politician to have her own trial, Duckworth made an assurance to the people of Illinois. Duckworth boasted in a press release that she “secured a commitment” from VA Secretary Robert McDonald to address long wait times:
…Tammy Duckworth (IL-08) today secured a commitment from Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Robert McDonald to swiftly and comprehensively address allegations of long wait times, substandard care and whistleblower retaliation at the Hines VA Hospital.
Days after Duckworth "secured" that commitment, McDonald shamefully likened the wait times that our veterans experience for health care to the wait times that Disneyland tourists experience for rides like Goofy’s Playhouse. As the Washington Examiner reports:
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on Monday compared the length of time veterans wait to receive health care at the VA to the length of time people wait for rides at Disneyland, and said his agency shouldn’t use wait times as a measure of success because Disney doesn’t either.
"When you got to Disney, do they measure the number of hours you wait in line? Or what’s important? What’s important is, what’s your satisfaction with the experience?" McDonald said Monday during a Christian Science Monitor breakfast with reporters.
Last year, Duckworth herself made headlines for allegedly dismissing evidence of abuse – including secret waiting lists, at the Hines VA:
- In November 2015, Hines VA Whistleblowers Claimed Tammy Duckworth Neglected To Address Secret Waiting Lists. “Medical workers at an Illinois VA hospital say two prominent lawmakers were aware that veterans were at risk due to rampant medical neglect at the facility, but neglected to seriously address the problems despite multiple requests. The employees at Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital said they were forced to go to the media with evidence of hospital negligence after they had a string of fruitless meetings with Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D., Ill.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) in 2013 and 2014… Clarno, a Democrat and union leader, said she met with Duckworth three times between 2013 and 2014 to report on “secret waiting lists” at the hospital, which hid the fact that patients were going months before seeing a doctor after calling to schedule an appointment.” (Alana Goodman, “Whistleblowers: Lawmakers Dismissed Evidence of Veterans Hospital Abuse,” The Washington Free Beacon, 11/10/15)
After she allegedly retaliated against courageous IDVA employees for blowing the whistle on veteran abuse as Rod Blagojevich’s appointee, Duckworth admitted that she "screwed up."
Given the flippancy with which Robert McDonald regards wait times for our veterans, it shouldn’t have taken Duckworth nearly twelve hours to admit that he did too.