Since 2011

Gabe Fleisher, Editor-in-Chief

wakeuptopolitics@gmail.com ● wakeuptopolitics.com ● @WakeUp2Politics

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Capitol Hill News

Shinseki to Testify on VA Delayed Care

Scandal U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Eric Shinseki will testify Thursday before a

Senate panel on the growing delayed care

scandal plaguing his department.

The scandal is over alleged secret waiting

lists at VA hospitals that have caused

appointments with veterans to be delayed for

months, in some cases. According to CNN,

the Veterans Affairs Department has

admitted that 23 veterans passed away, and 53

have had adverse health effects, because of such delays.

The department’s Office of Inspector General is now investigated in six

states, with Shinseki’s goal being that all patients seeking primary care will

be seen within 14 days of contacting the facility.

The White House has also gotten involved, with President Obama

announcing Thursday that he had tapped deputy chief of staff Rob Nabors to

assist Shinseki in the investigation. This scandal has already caused some

congressional Republicans, as well as the American Legion, to call for the

secretary’s resignation.

Today, for the first time, Shinseki will face questions from lawmakers over

the scandal in a Senate Veterans’ Affairs committee hearing. The list of

witnesses set to go before the panel today includes: Daniel Dellinger,

National Commander of the American Legion; Joseph Violante, National

Legislative Director at Disabled American Veterans; D. Wayne Robinson,

President and CEO of Student Veterans of America; Ryan Gulucci, Deputy

Director of National legislative Service at Veterans of Foreign Wars;

Richard Griffin, Acting Inspector General at the VA Department; retired

Rear Navy Admiral W. Clyde Marsh, President of the National Association

of State Directors of Veterans Affairs; and Debra Draper, Director of Health

Care at the Government Accountability Office.

Shinseki has served as Secretary of Veterans Affairs since President Obama

took office in 2009, and is the longest-serving holder of that post. He is

former Army Chief of Staff and four-star general.

White House Watch

The President’s Schedule At 9:40 AM, the President and First Lady will

tour the National September 11 Memorial & Museum.

At 10 AM, The President will speak at the dedication of the 9/11 Museum,

an idea years in the making and set to open to the public at the site of the

former World Trade Center next week.

Following the dedication, which will also include a speech from New Jersey

Gov. Chris Christie and was set to have a performance from Idina Menzel,

of Let it Go fame (she is sick), the Obamas will leave New York and return

to Washington.

To watch the ceremony live and to learn more about the memorial/museum,

visit 911memorial.org.

Question of the Day

Answers, Answers, Answers I know you have been on the edge of the seat

waiting for the correct response to the questions so far unanswered this

week, and I am here to help:

First Lady to the Presidency On Wednesday I asked about the foreign

president who had previously served as First Lady and Senator in her

country, reminisces of Hillary Clinton’s path to power if she reaches the

White House. The answer was Cristina Kirchner, President of Argentina.

Nobody got that one, but honorable mention goes to Steve Gitnik, who

answered Isabel Perón, a former Argentinian president who had also been

First Lady. She had not, however, served as a Senator.

“John Conyers’ office, Rosa Parks speaking” The answer to one of my two

Thursday questions (Which civil rights icon worked for Congressman John

Conyers?) was indeed Rosa Parks.

Ten years after Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a

white man, cementing her place in history books, Michigan Congressman

John Conyers hired her as his secretary and receptionist. Parks held the job

from 1965 to 1988,

GREAT JOB...Sally Starr, Joe Bookman, David Levy, and my second grade

teacher Mrs. Nicole Wight!

FINAL ANSWER COMING TOMORROW