Rep. Brian Mast Thursday slammed the Department of Veterans Affairs and accused it of trying to avoid transparency after he and other lawmakers were told that they must close their offices at two Florida VA hospitals by the end of the year.
"Our job is oversight," the Florida Republican told Fox News' "Fox and Friends," adding that if the offices are closed, veterans will have difficulty obtaining services from their lawmakers. "If they don't let us in there to do that then there is a real problem."
Mast, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan and a double amputee, opened his office at the West Palm Beach VA hospital in 2017, marking the first such congressional office in a VA facility.
Since then, he said his office has met with more than 500 veterans, providing services such as help with disability claims and benefits appeals.
However, earlier this summer, Mast grilled VA Secretary Robert Wilkie on the House floor about a shooting/suicide at the West Palm Beach facility and authored a bill to mandate that space be provided in VA hospitals to members of Congress so they can assist veterans.
Mast's office in West Palm Beach is shared with several Florida Democrats: Reps. Alcee Hastings, Ted Deutch, and Lois Frankel. Reps. Darren Soto and Stephanie Murphy, both Florida Democrats, share an office at a VA hospital in Orlando.
Mast said his office is "a closet," but it still provides services for hundreds and should not be closed.
The VA, while responding to Mast's complaints, said the agency's top mission is to deliver primary care to veterans, and spaces in the facilities are to be used for that.
"There are lots of folks that work inside the VA that are not providing medical care," Mast retorted. "This is about service for our veterans and we are doing better service and that's all we are asking for."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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