Bipartisan calls increase for Holder to investigate ‘level of criminality’ in VA scandal

Remember those who gave their lives for their country on Memorial Day, but don’t forget veterans who need their country’s help now.

That was the message Sunday as lawmakers intensified calls for the Justice Department to take action in the Veterans Affairs hospital scandal, saying the accusations have crossed the line from bureaucratic incompetence to criminal misconduct.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Illinois Republican, called on Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to investigate accusations that the VA submitted fake waiting list times in order to bolster its numbers while keeping secret lists of the actual wait times for patients.

“When we were talking about a year or two-year backlog, that was incompetence, that was bureaucracy, that was something that we had to take a real strong approach on,” Mr. Kinzinger said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.” “But when it came to, ‘People have created fake waiting lists and veterans have died,’ I think that goes to the level of criminality.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut Democrat, said he has spoken with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki about bringing in the Justice Department. He said only the Justice Department and FBI have the necessary resources and expertise get to the bottom of the scandal.

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