Although the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing was short on new revelations, one exchange concerned the fact that the VA spent more than $400,000 on consultants — to determine whether or not they were wasting money.
This is just the beginning of what happened. Given the fact they wasted money to see if they wasted money, it actually got worse.
VA official who resigned in spending scandal repeatedly pleads fifth at hearing
NBC News
By Courtney Kube and Daniel Arkin
October 30, 2013
A former Department of Veterans Affairs official who resigned from his post last year amid revelations that the department had spent vast sums of taxpayer money on a pair of extravagant conferences was tight-lipped at a hearing Wednesday.
John Sepulveda, the former Assistant Secretary of Human Resources at the VA, invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination, repeatedly saying: "On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based on my Fifth Amendment constitutional privilege." Sepulveda said he was exercising his "privilege to remain silent" — and he refused to even acknowledge whether or not he ever worked for the VA.
He stepped down from his position last year amid revelations detailed in a congressional report that two 2011 conferences held in Orlando, Fla., near Walt Disney World, cost taxpayers $6.1 million, and included spa treatments, helicopter rides, and expensive tickets to shows.
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