While the president pounds his fist and proclaims he's "madder than hell" over the VA scandal and then just asks for more time to review and investigate, House Republicans are getting pretty tired of the do-nothing Senate and a president who claims to only learn about problems in his administration on cable news.
Rep. Jackie Walorski (R., Ind.) sits on the Veterans' Affairs Committee in the House and she told me Wednesday on WMAL radio in Washington, D.C., that the House has passed a dozen bills for reform of the VA and they are collecting dust on Harry Reid's desk:
O'CONNOR: Are your colleagues in the House doing something about this decades-old problem so we can get something done for the vets?
REP WALORSKI: In the past 18 months, since I've been a member of Congress, we've passed, on the House floor, at least 12 reform VA bills. Mandating the VA to fix different things, mandating the VA to report different things, mandating them to fix their website, bipartisan bills that went to the Senate, and they are DOA on the Senate side
The Indiana freshman went on to say, "We can pass bills all day long here on the House side, but if the Senate doesn't get in gear and be held responsible and be held accountable for these veterans, it's not going to work. ... These things have been dead on arrival. Harry Reid has not moved one of these bills."
So when you hear the president and the Democrats in Congress lament the "do nothing Congress" and proclaim their "year of action" in which President Obama will "act if Congress fails to act," take note that Harry Reid has not brought any of the House VA reform bills to the Senate floor for consideration while veterans are dying as they wait for care.