WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today voted in favor of a bipartisan bill that would establish 26 new Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities, hire more doctors and nurses to care for veterans, and provide veterans with flexibility to receive health care outside the VA system. The legislation would also provide the next VA Secretary with the authority to fire employees for incompetence.

“I am pleased that the Senate has acted so quickly to pave the way for immediate reforms to a crumbling system,” Wicker said. “The allegations of mismanagement and negligence at Veterans Affairs Medical Centers across the country are appalling. This bill would ensure that veterans receive better access to care, more control over their health-care decisions, and alternatives to bypass long waiting times.”

Wicker is a cosponsor of the Veterans Health Care bill, H.R. 3230, authored by Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and John McCain, R-Ariz. It passed with an overwhelming vote of 93-3.

A Veterans Affairs Department internal audit released on Monday shows that more than 57,000 veterans have been waiting 90 days or more for their first medical appointments. The audit also found that 13 percent of schedulers at the agency’s 731 medical centers were told by their superiors to change schedules to make wait times look shorter.

The bill seeks to address this problem by providing veterans with the flexibility to receive health services outside the VA system if they are unable to get an appointment within the agency’s wait-time goals. Veterans residing more than 40 miles from a VA facility would also be covered by this provision.

Earlier this week, Wicker was joined by a bipartisan group of 20 Senators in calling on U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate possible criminal violations at VA medical facilities.

“The gross mistreatment of many of our nation’s veterans is inexcusable,” Wicker said on Monday. “This situation demands the full attention of the Attorney General and the Justice Department. Those responsible must be held accountable.”