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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 24 July 2018

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Senate confirms Robert Wilkie

for Veterans Affairs secretary

By HOPE YEN placement choice, White face escalating costs.
Associated Press House doctor Ronny Jack- Some Democrats have
WASHINGTON (AP) — The son, withdrew after allega- warned the VA won't be
Senate on Monday con- tions of workplace miscon- able to handle a growing
firmed Pentagon official duct surfaced. price tag, putting it at risk of
Robert Wilkie to be sec- Wilkie, a former assistant budget shortfalls next year.
retary of Veterans Affairs, secretary of defense under Major veterans' groups
charged with delivering on President George W. Bush, want full funding for core
President Donald Trump's has received mostly posi- VA medical centers, which In a Wednesday, June 27, 2018 file photo, Veterans Affairs
Secretary nominee Robert Wilkie is sworn in at the start of a
campaign promises to fire tive reviews from veterans' they see as best-suited to Senate Veterans Affairs Committee nominations hearing on
bad VA employees and groups for his manage- veterans' specialized needs Capitol Hill in Washington.
steer more patients to the ment experience, but the such as treatment for post- Associated Press
private sector. extent of his willingness to traumatic stress.
Wilkie won approval on a expand private care as an As VA secretary, Wilkie also ties have recently raised whether the law is being
bipartisan vote of 86-9, se- alternative to government- will have more power un- questions about the law's disproportionately used
curing the backing of many run VA care remains largely der a new accountability implementation, including against rank-and-file em-
Democrats after insisting at unknown. law to fire VA employees. how whistleblower com- ployees rather than senior
his confirmation hearing Trump last year pledged he Lawmakers from both par- plaints are handled and managers who set policy.q
that he will not privatize the would triple the number of
government's second-larg- veterans "seeing the doctor
est department. It was a of their choice." Currently
moment of respite from the more than 30 percent of VA
sharp political divisions en- appointments are made in
gulfing Trump's other nomi- the private sector.
nees in the final months be- Under repeated question-
fore congressional midterm ing at his hearing, the Air
elections. Force and Navy veteran
Wilkie is Trump's third pick said he opposed privatizing
for the job in 18 months. the agency of 360,000 em-
The longtime public official ployees and would make
says he will "shake up com- sure VA health care is "fully
placency" at VA, which has funded." When pressed
struggled with long waits in by Sen. Jon Tester, the top
providing medical treat- Democrat on the panel, if
ment to millions of veterans. he would be willing to dis-
In a statement released by agree with Trump, Wilkie re-
the White House, Trump ap- sponded "yes."
plauded the confirmation "I have been privileged to
vote and said he looked work for some of the most
forward to Wilkie's leader- high-powered people in
ship. this town," said Wilkie, cur-
"I have no doubt that the rently a Pentagon under-
Department of Veterans Af- secretary for Defense Sec-
fairs will continue to make retary Jim Mattis. "They pay
strides in honoring and pro- me for their opinions, and I
tecting the heroic men and give those to them."
women who have served Wilkie's main task in the
our nation with distinction," coming months will be car-
he said. rying out a newly signed
Trump selected Wilkie for law to ease access to pri-
the post in May after firing vate health providers. That
his first VA secretary, David law gives the VA secretary
Shulkin, amid ethics charg- wide authority to decide
es and internal rebellion when veterans can bypass
at the department over the VA, based on whether
the role of private care for they receive "quality" care,
veterans. Trump's initial re- but the program could