Rep. McCarthy: 'Dysfunctional' VA Needs to Be 'Turned on Its Head'

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy says that the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to be "fundamentally turned on its head."

McCarthy made the comments while speaking in Washington on Tuesday at the Conservative Reform Network's "Room to Grow: A Series" launch at Google's Washington's offices, The Washington Free Beacon is reporting. 

The California Republican was mainly there to talk about entrepreneurship and the need for the federal government to innovate. One agency he cited that he says is in need of reform is the VA.

"The VA has severe problems," McCarthy said. "We've done everything we could to change it. We’ve changed the secretary, we’ve changed the rules, we’ve given them a tremendous amount more money and the wait times are even longer."

The House majority leader said part of the problem is the illogical structure of the federal agency, which makes it difficult to hold incompetent employees accountable.

"You know what happens in the VA system? You can’t get rid of anybody," he said. "The structure does not allow you to do that. … One person has been fired in this process about that wait time, [but] she didn’t get fired because she didn’t do the wait time right. She did something illegal somewhere else. They couldn’t even fire her for the incompetence."

"You have a structure that’s designed to be dysfunctional and you get a dysfunctional outcome and you wonder, 'Why do I have to do it?' Oh, it’s government. We should put up with it — no," McCarthy said. "That’s why I think it needs to be fundamentally turned on its head to be able to go forward."

The House passed a bill on Wednesday that was introduced by Florida Republican Rep. Jeff Miller, who is also the House Veterans' Affairs Committee chairman, that would give VA Secretary Robert McDonald the power to remove or demote an employee based on poor performance or misconduct, The Military Times is reporting.

However, President Barack Obama says he will veto the measure if it makes it to his desk, saying it is "counterproductive."

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