GOP lawmaker: Set up blue-ribbon panel on VA

A GOP lawmaker says the administration needs to tackle the Veterans Affairs agency scandal on two fronts: appoint a blue-ribbon commission and pursue criminal charges.

“The president has to assign a special blue-ribbon commission made up of veterans, made up of physicians to do a nationwide revamping of the VA system and then immediately come to Congress and tell us what is needed to meet the needs of our veterans,” Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) said in an interview with The Hill.

{mosads}Marino, a former U.S. attorney and district attorney, believes “there’s probable cause” to investigate criminal wrongdoing that resulted in denying sick veterans timely healthcare at a VA facility in Phoenix, some of whom may have died while awaiting medical treatment.

“We need to get to the bottom of this, we need to make sure the Justice Department and the FBI has the resources, has the money, has the investigators. And anybody obstructing this should be prosecuted as well and if we find out there were people changing documents just to get bonuses, these people need to go to jail,” he said.