Amid increasing calls from both parties for Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that he is still not joining that chorus.
"I'm going to continue to reserve judgment on General Shinseki," Boehner told reporters Thursday. "The question I ask myself is, 'Is him resigning going to get us to the bottom of the problem? Is it going to help us find out what is really going on?' And the answer I keep getting is no."
Boehner added that President Barack Obama should be held accountable for problems at the veterans organization.
"The president is going to have to step up here and show some real leadership," he added.
A chorus of GOP lawmakers and a growing number of Democrats have said that Shinseki must go in the wake of allegations of widespread mismanagement of medical waiting lists at Veterans Affairs hospitals.
Last week, Boehner said he was “getting a little closer” to seeking Shinseki’s resignation, although he cautioned that his ouster would not solve systemic problems at the veterans organization.
“The general could leave and we could wait around for months for the nomination process and we get a new person, but the disaster continues,” he said then.