Deirdre Shesgreen and Anne Saker

USA TODAY NETWORK

WASHINGTON — Rep. Warren Davidson Thursday defended his assertion that “moochers” and “pretenders” are clogging the Veterans Affairs’ health care system.

“Part of the problem is there are some vets that are moochers and they’re clogging up the system,” Davidson said Monday at a town hall in West Chester, according to a story in the Journal-News. “And we do as taxpayers want to make sure the VA filters out these folks that are pretenders.”

Those comments drew a sharp rebuke from the GOP chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

“I can only hope that Rep. Davidson misspoke, and I look forward to him clarifying his remarks," said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla.

Joe Davis, a national spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, also took issue with Davidson's characterization. "Honorably discharged veterans with service-connected wounds, illnesses and injuries, or who are indigent due to circumstances beyond their control, are not moochers,” Davis said.

But Davidson, an Army veteran from Troy, did not back down when asked on Thursday to explain what he meant.

“As a veteran, I know the subpar care that many of my brothers and sisters in arms have received, and I will not be content until that is changed,” the Ohio Republican said in a statement emailed by his spokesman. “Any effort to suggest I have anything other than a soldier’s passion for providing our veterans with the care they deserve is dishonest.”

A newcomer to politics, Davidson won a special election in June to succeed former House Speaker John Boehner, who resigned.

Davidson’s spokesman, Alexei Woltornist, pointed to four instances in 2016 of fraud relating to VA benefits. These cases were uncovered by the VA’s inspector general's office and the individuals were prosecuted.

In one example, a 73-year-old Massachusetts man took his neighbors’ VA benefit checks after she died, stealing almost $80,000. In another case, a Texas man posed as a disabled veteran to make himself eligible for VA contracts given to small businesses run by veterans.

Only one of the four cases was related to VA health care services. In that instance, a California man falsely claimed to be a decorated Marine Corps veteran to obtain health care benefits through the VA, among other assistance.

Asked about the scope of health-related fraud at the VA, a spokesman for the Inspector General's office pointed to the agency's most recent semi-annual report to Congress, covering Oct. 1, 2015 through March 31, 2016. That report showed the VA watchdog office opened 14 investigations related to the fraudulent receipt of health benefits, which resulted in 5 arrests for various related crimes.

Democrats also pounced on Davidson's remarks, saying they were troubling and insensitive.

Steve Fought, a Democrat running against Davidson in Ohio's 8th congressional district, said Davidson "is the first congressman ever to blame the shortcomings of the VA health care system on the veterans themselves."

David Pepper, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, called Davidson's comments "outrageous" and said: "I would like to know just how he intends to decide which veterans are worthy of health care and which ones are ‘moochers'. Perhaps the congressman is frustrated with the system, but the solution isn’t to kick veterans off the health care coverage they’ve earned through service to their country."