House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R., Fla.) called for the resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki following an inspector general report Wednesday that confirmed allegations of hidden wait times at a Phoenix VA hospital.
The VA Inspector General reported Thursday that more than 1,700 veterans at the Phoenix hospital were kept on unofficial wait lists that hospital leadership used to hide true wait times from officials in Washington. More than 40 veterans allegedly died due to delays in care at the facility.
The report follows allegations of similar practices at VA hospitals around the country in what has become a national scandal for the Obama administration.
In a statement released following the report, Miller called on Shinseki to resign immediately.
"Shinseki is a good man who has served his country honorably, but he has failed to get VA’s health care system in order despite repeated and frequent warnings from Congress, the Government Accountability Office and the IG," Miller said in a statement. "What’s worse, to this day, Shinseki—in both word and deed—appears completely oblivious to the severity of the health care challenges facing the department."
Miller also called on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to launch a criminal investigation into the controversy.