The House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing last night began at 7:30pm and ended around 11:30pm.   The hearing was held to cover the information contained within the Interim Office of Inspector General’s Report.

Here’s a sense of how it started:

Having watched the entire hearing personally, and listened to the insufferable responses from: Dr. Thomas Lynch, M.D., Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Clinical Operations, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Ms. Joan Mooney, Assistant Secretary for Congressional and Legislative Affairs, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and Mr. Michael Huff, Congressional Relations Officer, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, I can tell you the committee has every reasonable right to express frustration.

Dr. Lynch and Ms. Mooney were incredibly self-serving.    It became apparent early in the hearing they were more concerned for protecting the administrative bureaucratic system within the VA than to actually engage in delivering information.

In short, they were covering for their boss and their positions.   That much was so obvious it was actually recognized and admitted by all of the Republican and Democrat members of the committee.    Obfuscation and avoidance was the theme throughout.

Freshman Rep Mrs. Walorski sums up the first two hours: