WASHINGTON (AP) — The top official for veterans' health care resigned Friday amid a firestorm over delays in care and falsified records at veteran hospitals.
Veterans Secretary Eric Shinseki says he has accepted the resignation of Robert Petzel, the department's undersecretary for health care. Shinseki had asked for the resignation, a department official later said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for attribution.
The announcement came a day after both men were grilled at a four-hour hearing of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, where lawmakers and veteran groups expressed exasperation of long-standing problems at the department.
Meanwhile, House Republicans scheduled a vote for Wednesday on legislation that would give Shinseki more authority to fire or demote senior executives and administrators at the agency and its 152 medical centers.
When senior leaders in the VA "fail the men and women who have put their lives on the line for our country, they deserve a pink slip - not a bonus," House Speaker John Boehner said Friday. While some Republicans in Congress have called for Shinseki to resign, Boehner is not among them.
