NBC’s SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: “Let’s talk about some of the issues in your district. As you well know, Fort Bragg is in your district. Your brother served two tours of duty in Iraq. I’m sure you’re following what’s happening with the scandal at the Veterans Administration, with the delays in treatments for vets. Do you think Eric Shinseki, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, should resign?”
AIKEN: “I don’t know, but I mean, I think we have a lot of people who are making decisions without being in the room. I’m not going to be one of those folks who wasn’t in the hearings, hasn’t paid attention to those details, and wasn’t privy to that stuff in making decisions for that. But I will say, we’ve gotta do a better job of funding the VA, we’ve gotta do a better job of organizing the VA. I think the VA should be possibly not in the healthcare business so much, as in the veterans care business in taking care of the needs of veterans. The veterans unemployment rate is 11 percent, four point higher than the rest of the population. We’ve got—it’s a very mismanaged organization and we’ve gotta do a better job of cleaning it up.”