The Nation - News from March 16, 1988

Significant changes in the way the Veterans Administration is being managed should be made whether or not it is elevated to Cabinet status, a Senate committee was told. A panel of the National Academy of Public Administration, an independent study group, and the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, did not make recommendations on whether the VA should become part of the President’s Cabinet. In its report to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, the seven-member academy panel said it found “little evidence” that Cabinet-level status would materially improve the VA’s mission of aiding veterans. The GAO recommended that the VA’s deputy administrator be given the responsibility for the agency’s day-to-day management.