Sen. Sanders Responds to Head of Vets Org Calling Him VA ‘Apologist’

Paul Rieckhoff, the head of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, sat down with Rachel Maddow to take on the VA scandal, and he went down the list of politicians who haven’t exactly done their best to advocate for veterans. He said the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, for one, has no veterans on it, and one of its members, Bernie Sanders, has “basically been an apologist for the VA over the past couple of weeks.”

Minutes later, when Sanders appeared on Maddow’s program, he defended himself from that charge, arguing that months ago he pushed for comprehensive veterans reform that was supported by every single veterans group, including the IAVA, but Republicans opposed it and it failed.

Sanders argued that it’s unquestionably clear that people should be disciplined for their role in covering up a system that was ignoring the medical needs of veterans. However, he argued that people shouldn’t be conflating the issue to say the VA health care system is a horrible one, since veterans groups have actually praised it as being a good system overall. aside from the abuses that have gone on.

Watch the video below, via MSNBC:

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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