ST. PAUL — A growing number of Democrats in Minnesota’s congressional delegation are urging Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign.

An inspector general’s report released Wednesday found systemic problems in the VA’s sprawling nationwide system, which provides medical care to about 6 1/2 million veterans annually.

Reports said U.S. Sen. Al Franken and Reps. Tim Walz and Collin Peterson have joined more than half of Minnesota’s 10-member delegation in calling for Shinseki’s resignation. Walz is a member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and said “ultimately the buck stops with the secretary.”

A probe of operations at the Phoenix VA Health Care System found that about 1,700 veterans in need of care were “at risk of being lost or forgotten” after being kept off an official waiting list.