WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner on Wednesday demanded that President Obama do more to fix what Mr. Boehner called “the abject failure” of the Department of Veterans Affairs to meet the needs of the country’s soldiers returning from battles abroad.

In a letter signed by the Republican House leadership, Mr. Boehner called on the president to support legislation offered by his members that would provide the secretary of veterans affairs with more authority to fire people at the agency and give veterans who face delays in seeing doctors the ability to temporarily go elsewhere.

“Are you willing to do whatever it takes, pending the results of the investigations that are underway, to ensure our veterans get the care we owe them, even if it means shaking up the current bureaucracy and rethinking the entire system?” the lawmakers asked in the letter.

The letter concluded, “The V.A. scandal is a national disgrace, and Americans are eager to know the extent of your willingness to personally take action in order to make things right for those who have served.”