By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The new American Legion National Commander, Mike Helm, along with U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who is a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, have called for immediate action to remove certain U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs employees.

Helm, a native of Norcatur in northwest Kansas, was in Hays recently as part of his national tour.

Last week, Helm sent a letter to President Barack Obama saying corrupt managers within the agency need to be “fired immediately.”

“The only way those culpable will get their just desserts, and credibility will be restored to the thousands of VA employees who really deserve it, is for you to demand that those who caused this scandal, and those who oversaw it and did nothing, be fired and removed from government,” Helm wrote.

Click here to read the full letter from the American Legion National commander to President Obama.

Moran sent a letter to VA Secretary Bob McDonald calling for immediate action to remove the VA employees who were found to have abused their positions. Click here to read Moran’s entire letter.

With the passage of the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act this summer, Congress empowered the VA secretary with the ability to more readily terminate employees for poor performance and misconduct.

No action has been taken.