{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://roby.house.gov/column/more-va-changes-week", "More VA Changes This Week", "2014-10-10", "2014", "2014-10", "Republican", "House", "AL", "Martha Roby", "R000591", "roby.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "I\u00a0want to keep you as updated as\u00a0possible on the latest with our efforts to reform the VA, and a lot has happened in the last week.\nThe Department of Veterans Affairs has confirmed that former\u00a0Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System (CAVHCS) Director James Talton and Chief of Staff Cliff Robinson have been given notice of their termination. You may remember that they were placed on administrative leave in August after numerous instances of misconduct, mismanagement and neglect came to light.\u00a0\nThis week\u2019s action to move forward with termination is a necessary and important step toward instilling accountability at the VA and building trust within the community. It is also among\u00a0the VA\u2019s first known use of accountability enhancements included in the VA reform legislation passed in July.\nCongress passed and the\u00a0President signed that law to give newly instated Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald the authority he needed to swiftly fire senior managers for misconduct or poor performance. Many have understandably worried that, despite the new law and public outrage, nothing would really change at the VA. This week's action is a positive sign that the new VA leadership is committed to removing bad actors and improving the healthcare system.\nThat being said, I share House Veterans Affairs Chairman Jeff Miller\u2019s frustration about the length of this process. We passed legislation to remove these barriers that have slowed termination procedures in the past. True accountability comes from swift decisive action, and that\u2019s what I had hoped to see here.\nOn Friday I went back to the CAVHCS Montgomery campus to meet with Deputy VA Secretary Sloan Gibson about the need to overhaul CAVHCS.\u00a0It is crucial that senior VA officials in Washington see first hand what\u2019s going on here in Central Alabama, so\u00a0I\u2019m pleased Mr. Gibson came. As I explained to him, this is my district, and these are my veteran constituents who are being mistreated because of the negligence that has occurred here.\u00a0\nMy\u00a0focus is making the Central Alabama VA better for veteran patients who need it. I think we are getting somewhere in terms of convincing VA management to\u00a0utilize outside local\u00a0hospitals and doctors to help reduce the wait times and get veterans access to care.\u00a0I\u2019m going to continue to press the VA. I think it was pretty clear to Mr. Gibson that this remains my\u00a0priority, and\u00a0I\u2019m not going anywhere.", 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": ["http://roby.house.gov/column/more-va-changes-week"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3010380789637566, "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"}