Press Releases

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree issued the following statement in reaction to President Obama's remarks today about reported mismanagement of veterans' healthcare.

The President was right to speak out on this investigation and promise to hold people accountable if they have cooked the books on wait times at VA facilities. Whether or not this is a systemic issue or isolated incidents, its clear this has been a longstanding problem with the Veterans Health Administration and it needs to stop immediately. It's important that the VA not only figure out who is responsible for these cover-ups, but they also have to do a thorough audit to find out how widespread the problem is, and I am working with my colleagues to make sure the audit is done correctly.

I was also glad to hear the President acknowledge that we shouldn’t wait for the results of any investigation before we begin to address the problem of unacceptable wait times at VA facilities. I look forward to working with the Administration and my colleagues to fix this issue, veterans deserve no less.