Obama meeting now with Shinseki

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is meeting today to have a "serious conversation" with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki about whether he can stay in his job as the agency head apologized publicly for systemic problems plaguing the veterans' health care system.

Obama met with the retired four-star general just two days after a scathing internal report found broad and deep-seated problems in the sprawling health-care system, which provides medical care to about 6.5 million veterans annually. The report prompted loud calls for Shinseki's resignation from congressional Republicans and Democrats.

In a speech this morning, Shinseki said the problems outlined in the report were "totally unacceptable" and a "breach of trust" that he found irresponsible and indefensible. He announced he would take a series of steps to respond, including ousting senior officials at the troubled Phoenix health care facility, the initial focus of the investigation.

He concurred with the report's conclusion that the problems extended throughout the VA's 1,700 health care facilities nationwide, and said that "I was too trusting of some" in the VA system.