There must have been a serious push up session before this morning’s Department of Veterans Affairs budget hearing because Republican Rep. Mike Coffman was pumped when questioning Veteran Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald. At the end of the exchange, McDonald who has been under fire for quite some time for a lack of accountability under his watch, told Coffman:
“You cannot fire your way to excellence.”
Coffman’s response?
“It might be a good start. I think firing incompetent people would be a good start.”
BOOM.
This entire budget hearing segment will turn your stomach, but any defense of retaining incompetent VA workers after it was discovered that their incompetence caused veteran deaths at the VA is absurd. Rep. Coffman was right to reject McDonald’s attempts to explain away the lack of accountability at the VA. Watch below – it’s not until the end that Coffman delivers his zinger.