{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221013432/http://www.vitter.senate.gov/newsroom/press/vitter-sends-stinging-letter-to-va-after-news-they-prioritized-lavish-trips-over-louisiana-clinics", "Vitter Sends Stinging Letter to VA After News they Prioritized Lavish Trips over Louisiana Clinics", "2013-11-08", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "LA", "David Vitter", "V000127", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Vitter Sends Stinging Letter to VA After News they Prioritized Lavish Trips over Louisiana Clinics\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tFriday, November 8, 2013\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t(Washington, D.C.) \u2013 U.S. Sen. David Vitter today sent a letter to Eric Shinseki, Secretary of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, to express frustration over a pair of extravagant training conferences in Orlando in 2011 that cost taxpayers $6.1 million. The conferences were uncovered at a Congressional hearing last week as part of an investigation by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Click here to read more about the VA conferences which have been described as a \u201cspending binge.\u201d  \u201cBuilding and maintaining the clinics in Lafayette and Lake Charles that were promised to Louisianians would have cost less than the $6.1 million used to throw these lavish parties for bureaucrats,\u201d Vitter said. \u201cThe VA\u2019s complete disregard for taxpayer money is a slap in the face of Louisiana veterans who desperately need those clinics to be built.\u201d In his letter, Vitter asks the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop a proposal for where the money necessary to complete the Lafayette and Lake Charles clinics should come from.  A recent ruling by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reversed authorization for twelve Department of Veterans\u2019 Affairs (VA) clinics from last year\u2019s VA funding bill, including clinics in Lafayette and Lake Charles. Vitter urged the Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee to include both clinics in the committee\u2019s funding authorization bill. Vitter also worked to include a provision into the National Defense Authorization Act during the Senate Armed Services Committee markup that would have addressed seven national VA clinics including the clinics in Lafayette and Lake Charles, but his efforts were blocked by bureaucracy in the committees. A copy of Vitter\u2019s letter today is below. November 8, 2013   Secretary Eric K. Shinseki  U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs   \u00a0810 Vermont Avenue, NW   Washington, DC 20420 Dear Secretary Shinseki:  \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0  It has come to my attention that the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform held a hearing yesterday to investigate the planning and execution of a pair of extravagant training conferences in 2011 located in Orlando. As construction of Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs) in Lafayette, Louisiana and Lake Charles, Louisiana would already be nearing completion if not for your agency\u2019s ineptitude, to say I was dismayed would be a gross understatement. It has been reported that the conferences held in July and August 2011 in Orlando cost the taxpayers $6.1 million.  The cost to build and maintain the two clinics in Louisiana previously mentioned would have cost less than $6.1 million, leading me to believe that the Department of Veterans Affairs seems more interested in throwing bureaucratic parties than caring for Louisiana veterans. Last week, John Sepulveda, the top Department of Veterans Affairs official implicated in planning these training conferences, pled the fifth at the hearing. The VA\u2019s disregard to discuss their use of taxpayer money is a complete slap to the face of Louisiana veterans who desperately need these clinics to be built. As you are aware, due to an unexpected change by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in how it estimates the cost of VA clinics, fifteen clinics around the country that were ready to be built were stripped out of a VA authorization bill last year. I have been working for over a year since this occurred on finding a solution to get these clinics built.\u00a0 This includes a call I had with you in January in which I implored you to help find the money to build these clinics. You essentially told me that is not your job.  In light of this shocking investigation, I demand the VA find and allocate the $5,351,424 million needed to build and maintain these two clinics in Southwest-Louisiana.\u00a0 If the money is there to throw $6.1 million events in Orlando, then surely the money to build greatly needed clinics can be found. Please develop a proposal on where the money necessary to complete these two clinics should come from, and please respond to me by no later than December 13, 2013. \u00a0 Our veterans have served our nation proudly and bravely, and were promised that their healthcare needs would be met. We owe them that. As Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, it is your duty to see that this promise is adequately and promptly fulfilled.  Sincerely, \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 David Vitter  \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United States Senate", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221013432/http://www.vitter.senate.gov/newsroom/press/vitter-sends-stinging-letter-to-va-after-news-they-prioritized-lavish-trips-over-louisiana-clinics"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5821880660951138, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}