The Department of Veterans Affairs wasted at least $762,000 in taxpayer money for two lavish conferences in Florida and a top department official has resigned in the wake of the disclosure, the VA inspector general reported Monday.
The inspector general released the findings of its investigation into two human resources conferences held last summer in Orlando, Fla., and confirmed that Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration John Sepulveda has resigned over the scandal.
The total bill was more than $6 million, but investigators said they're still not sure how much the department actually spent on the two conferences. “VA's estimates of the conference expenditures changed multiple times during the course of our administrative investigation,” the inspector general said.
“We questioned about $762,000 as unauthorized, unnecessary and/or wasteful expenses,” the report found. That includes $50,000 for a training film that featured an actor as Gen. George Patton, nearly $100,000 for “unnecessary promotional items” and about $50,000 for repeated trips to the site prior to the conference and reimbursement for employees who arrived a few days early or stayed late.
Additionally, the conference organizers gave themselves $43,000 in bonuses, which the inspectors said was “questionable … in light of the mismanagement and lack of professional care exercised in controlling and tracking conference-related costs.”
no wonder we have to raise taxes
Which is it?
ask the ig
desperate
With the war in Iraq over and the one in Afghanistan winding down, the VA is sorting through a backlog of more than 860,000 disability claims from American veterans. More than a quarter of those vets -- 228,000 -- have been waiting for a year or more.
The litany of delays includes lost paperwork, long wait times for appointments and erroneous lab results. At one point, a doctor prescribed [staff sergeant Mike Rioux] medication for a bladder infection he didn't have; he'd never given as much as a urine sample.
In August 2011, the VA told Rioux his claim was in review and, four months later, he was told to expect a decision by the end of the year. None came.
Both he and [wife] Maggie wrote numerous letters seeking help, including one to first lady Michelle Obama, with a copy sent to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki.
Three months ago, the Riouxes finally heard from the VA about his claim. It rejected coverage for his traumatic brain injury, granting him limited disability coverage that amounts to about $660 a month.
Attempts to get full disability coverage have left the Riouxes often lost in a morass of red tape and confusing policies at dozens of offices in various veterans medical centers.
"That is trademark VA -- that you get answers, and then a different answer from the same building, but a different floor or a different office," Maggie Rioux said. "And the confusion that ensues is monumental."
The Riouxes are not alone. Two-thirds of the 860,000 applicants have been waiting longer than the 125 days that Shinseki set as a goal for processing claims. On average, the VA said veterans wait more than eight months -- 256 days -- before their claim is resolved.
CNN interviewed 16 veterans for this report, all of whom recounted monthslong waits to get a simple evaluation of their disabilities. Many said they had not received prompt help for serious mental health issues. One vet said he called a VA suicide prevention hotline, was told he would be called back, and a return call never came -- a situation the agency said never should have happened.
Dept of Veterans Affairs funding: 86 billion a year. Either you're getting desperate for something to attack the government on or hate the troops. Which is it?
Hey, it's the IG who is making the accusations. Are you so completely enthralled by the supremacy of government that you can't stand to see it criticized even when it's being so wasteful that the IG comes in and slams it down? Are you dependent on government? Do you have an Obamaphone? Are you on food stamps? Are you using the library computer?
Dept of Veterans Affairs funding: 86 billion a year. Either you're getting desperate for something to attack the government on or hate the troops. Which is it?
The VA isn't a part of the military, so it has nothing to do with, "hating the troops".
Splitting hairs is your specialty considering you never posting anything worth arguing.
You must be blaming the patients for the cost overruns.
Who hates the troops, now?
Eh? Non sequitur? How quaint. Try making a post that makes sense. Then we'll discuss something. I won't hold my breath.
Nice dodge...bro.
Why would anyone with a clear concience blame our wounded soldiers for over-spending at the VA? Why are you doing that? Do you honestly hate our servicemen that much?
Actually, I own 5 houses in 4 different countries - Canada, US, Mexico and St Maarten. How many do you own? I own a Maserati and I'm on my 3rd beamer. What do you drive? A chevy? Dude please, fall back before you hurt yourself cause I have proof of it all. Most of it posted on this forum. Actually, let's just stop for one second and ignore the fact that you don't have the ability to distinguish between purely partisan hackery, argumentums ad authoritarium and the huge lack of judgement in questioning my wealth and get back to the money:
What's 700K? You have it? Of course you don't. You're a Pauligan. Most are broke or broke Neo Nazis. I don't even care to ask which one you fit under. Do I have it? Yeah, spent half of that on one of my houses. But back to the 700K the government spent on vets. What does Ken Cuccinelli have to gain from "exposing" 700K spent by the federal government when his own state received 500K to build a museum? Answer? Nothing. It's nothing more than small fry partisan nonsense you seem to adhere to quite fondly.
Please Mr. "LowDown", before you go after members of this forum, realize that some of us don't have to be broke Pauligans or wards of the state to see the stupidity in arguing about a measly 700K.
LOL! Sure, sure, dude. Me? I own the New York Mets. Or maybe it's the Yankees. I forget which. The juxtaposition of the above 2 paragraphs is rather ironic, no?
Dept of Veterans Affairs funding: 86 billion a year. Either you're getting desperate for something to attack the government on or hate the troops. Which is it?
interesting.. I wouldn't have pegged you as a guy who is supportive or dismissive of fraud and waste...<shrugs>
you must be a Democrat.
Fraud? Serious allegation you've got there. Want to prove it? Charges laid? Convictions? Anything?
nah, I'm not the IG...it's not my job.
I'll rescind the fraud comment and leave it with waste.
so...why are you supportive/dismissive of government waste?
I'm not. I just don't really care about 700K when we spend a few more times that sum supporting useless crops in Republican states like Virginia. I'm a big picture sorta fella. :shrug:
that's what we would call "dismissive"...
You called me supportive. I'm not. I just don't care enough for it. :shrug:
I called you supportive/dismissive...
50% isn't bad. Still, you act as if being dismissive is a bad thing. I am dismissive on the basis that this is nothing more than partisan pandering by a welfare state who spends the money of other states to build museums in the middle of nowhere. :shrug:
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