Low-key Washington insider makes a bid to fix struggling VA
WASHINGTON» Modest and low-key, Robert Wilkie was hastily dispatched to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs after a furious President Donald Trump fired Secretary David Shulkin amid political infighting at the department.
But what was supposed to be a temporary job could turn permanent.
Wilkie wasn’t Trump’s first choice to replace Shulkin; his nomination of White House doctor Ronny Jackson withered in the face of late-surfacing allegations of workplace misconduct.
All the while, Wilkie was quietly working at the VA, signing a major $10 billion deal to overhaul veterans’ electronic medical records.
He was taken aback when Trump made an impromptu offer of the permanent job at a public event in midMay.
“I do not know how long I will be privileged to serve as the acting secretary,” Wilkie had disclosed in a message to VA employees, urging an improved department where people are “not talking at each other, but with each other.” He privately told associates after Trump’s announcement that he had been awaiting a meeting with the president before making commitments.
If confirmed, the longtime public official could end up steering some of the biggest changes to veterans’ health care in decades.
A significant test comes Wednesday at his Senate hearing, where Democrats plan to question the Air Force and Navy veteran on his views on privatizing the government’s second-largest department of 360,000 employees serving 9 million veterans. It’s an issue that Shulkin says led to his ouster.
How he chooses to navigate a Senate in which Republicans hold a 51-49 majority could go a long way in whether he delivers on Trump’s promise to steer more patients to the private sector. The reach of a newly signed law to expand private care will depend on the VA secretary, who will have wide leeway in deciding when veterans can bypass the government-run VA.
The last time the VA faced big changes involving the eligibility of health care was 1996.
“With a growing risk of funding shortages, VA has never before been more vital — or more vulnerable,” said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and chief executive of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “Mr. Wilkie will have to prove to millions of veterans nationwide that he is up to this mammoth, sacred leadership task.”
Wilkie, 55, declined to respond to requests for comment on his VA nomination. Pending confirmation, he has returned to his role as Pentagon undersecretary, a post to which he was confirmed unanimously last November.
White House chief of staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis prevailed on Trump to select Wilkie as a known quantity with a record of competence and hard work. Wilkie was an assistant secretary of defense in President George W. Bush’s administration.