By Daniel Newhauser and JM Rieger

Speaker John A. Boehner said Thursday he is not ready to join those calling for the firing of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki amid the growing outcry over accusations that dozens died while waiting for treatment at VA hospitals. “The problems at the VA are systemic,” the Ohio Republican told reporters. “It’s the backlog, it’s the preventable deaths that occurred within that system. There is a systemic management issue throughout the VA that needs to be addressed, and I don’t believe just changing someone at the top is going to actually get to the solutions that many of us are looking for.”