Jones Calls for Resignation of Senior VA Official Who Heads Suspicious Veterans “Charity”

[jct74]

JONES CALLS FOR RESIGNATION OF SENIOR VA OFFICIAL WHO HEADS SUSPICIOUS VETERANS “CHARITY”

May 17, 2016

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC-3) sent a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald asking for the resignation of J. Thomas Burch, the Deputy Director in the Office of the General Counsel at the VA, who runs an allegedly fraudulent charity called the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation (NVVF). Yesterday, CNN reported that in the past five years, NVVF has taken in $29 million in donations and spent less than 2 percent on veterans. According to Charity Navigator, which audits thousands of charities in the United States, NVVF spends 90 percent of its over $8 million revenue on fundraising expenses, and is one of the most inefficient charities in the country.

“I am outraged that Mr. Burch receives a taxpayer-funded salary from the VA and drives a Rolls Royce to work while cheating veterans out of their money and the services he promises them. It’s a disgrace to the over 80,000 veterans who live in the Third District of North Carolina—many of whom served in Vietnam—and taxpayers all over the country,” said Congressman Jones.

Congressman Jones has long been an advocate for veterans and has consistently held the VA accountable. Last Congress, Congressman Jones cosponsored a career record of 86 bills to help veterans by providing better access to more transparent healthcare, access to educational opportunities, affordable housing, and job opportunities. In fact, over the past three years, Congressman Jones has cosponsored more bills to help veterans than any member of Congress.

Click below to read Congressman Jones' letter to Secretary McDonald.

http://jones.house.gov/press-release...arity%E2%80%9D

[acptulsa]

So, we have officials of the Veterans' Affairs running charities which purport to do what the VA should be doing, and no one considers this a conflict of interest? Is Washington so removed from reality, and are we now so unused to applying real-world standards to Washington, that we really consider it inconceivable that the VA could be intentionally incompetent in order to spur the creation of charities that promise to do what the VA is charged with doing?

And how do liberals argue that turning a charitable project over to this same federal government is the way to get something done, again?

Sometimes I think everyone followed Alice through the looking-glass and into Wonderland but me.