Rep. Brian Mast eyed for top Veterans Affairs post

President Donald Trump is considering an Army veteran who is a South Florida member of Congress for the position of Veterans Affairs secretary, part of a lengthening search for a nominee following the abrupt firing of David Shulkin in March.

A White House official on Thursday said U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Palm City, who was elected to the House in 2016, was among the list of candidates for the job heading an agency of 360,000 employees serving 9 million veterans.

The White House official would not say if Mast is the leading candidate for the VA position. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Mast was an Army sergeant who lost both legs and a finger when a bomb exploded under him in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2010. Along with three South Florida Democrats, Republican Mast opened the a shared congressional office at the VA Medical Center in Riviera Beach, giving constituents easier access to assistance from the lawmakers.

Mast, 37, has often voted along with Trump on key issues in Congress.

Mast, who lived in Parkland for about a year before moving to the Treasure Coast to run for Congress, angered many voters in the Republican base by his call for gun control following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre.

He had an “A” grade from the National Rifle Association but stunned supporters with his call for banning assault weapons, including the AR-15, used in

the Stoneman Douglas massacre and many other mass shootings; background checks for anyone buying a firearm; a higher minimum age for buying various categories of guns; and banning of accessories like bump stocks that make firearms perform like automatic weapons.

Running the VA could prove more appealing than running for re-election in what is shaping up to be a tough political year for Republicans. Mast won his first term in 2016 with 53.6 percent of the vote. This year, Mast faces a Republican primary and Democrats have made the 18th Congressional District, in northern Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, one of their top targets in the 2018 midterm elections. Still, the district leans Republican, according to the latest independent ratings from Cook Political Report, Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia and Inside Elections.

Trump is seeking a nominee to lead the VA after White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson withdrew his nomination for the post last month.

White House officials have met with former Florida Rep. Jeff Miller, a Republican who once led the House Veterans' Affairs Committee and Ron Nichol, a senior adviser to The Boston Consulting Group, who helped organize the president's transition.

Acting VA Secretary Robert Wilkie, a former Pentagon undersecretary for personnel and readiness, and Samuel Spagnolo, the president of the National Association of Veterans Affairs Physicians and Dentists, are also under consideration for the post.

VA officials have told some veterans groups they are preparing for the possibility that the agency won't have a permanent VA secretary in place for another three months, as Trump mulls over replacement candidates.

The VA faces problems demanding immediate attention, including a multibillion dollar revamp of electronic medical records now in limbo that members of Congress fear will prove too costly and wasteful, and a budget shortfall in the coming weeks in its private-sector Veterans Choice program.

The House is slated to vote on a wide-ranging bill next week that would give veterans more freedom to see doctors outside the VA health system and fill the budget shortfall, a major step toward fulfilling Trump's promise to expand private care for veterans.

Trump originally chose Jackson, a career military doctor who lacked significant management experience, to replace Shulkin, a decision that surprised veterans groups who had not been previously told that his name was under consideration. While Jackson was well-liked in Washington and drew praise from Obama administration officials he'd treated, even many Republicans were skeptical of his ability to lead the VA.

Mast