'As painful as that might be, to have that increased oversight for the VA or any federal agency, they should be begging for it, if it means making that a better agency—especially what serves our nation's veterans,' said Florida GOP Rep. Brian Mast.
from having small, part-time offices at local medical facilities, prompting the lawmakers to go on the offensive Friday and demand the agency allow them to retain their office spaces in order to provide constituent services and more adequate oversight.
VA Secretary Robert Wilkie has said he no longer wants them at the department's hospitals, a move that has sparked outrage among the group of Sunshine State representatives. Wilkie has stated that the spaces should be used for medical treatments, it's not legally required for lawmakers to be provided an office within VA facilities and cited plans to fit the small rooms for a"smoking cessation program.
Soto described the reaction from local officials as"dumbfounded" when they learned last week that Wilkie was putting a quash by the end of this year on the office agreements they had with the local VAs. An invitation has been extended to Wilkie by Soto to visit the Florida VA hospitals and to see the work the Congress members' offices do firsthand, but it's unclear whether the secretary will accept., ignored a question about whether Wilkie will accept.
"Let's be clear, this decision came from Washington, not Orlando or West Palm Beach. Our partners in our local hospital see the value that we offer," Murphy said."This is a bureaucratic decision that's coming from Washington. We didn't demand to have an office there, we asked, and we were welcomed."
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