‘Plan to revamp vets care will save lives’
Trump says he would be law-and-order president
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va, July 12, (Agencies): Republican Donald Trump pledged Monday to expand programs that allow veterans to choose their doctor and clinics — regardless of whether they’re affiliated with Department of Veterans Affairs — and still receive government-paid medical care.
In a policy speech announcing a 10-point plan for veterans, Trump said he “begins with a simple promise: Every veteran will get timely access to topquality care.”
His plan was not a way to privatize the VA, as some critics have charged, but instead was “a way of not allowing people to die waiting for doctors,” Trump said.
In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Trump said people are “are dying because they can’t even get to see a doctor. This is a way that we’re going to end that.”
“Never again will we allow a veteran to suffer or die waiting for the care they so richly deserve,” he said.
Trump was referring to a 2014 scandal in which as many as 40 veterans died while waiting for care at a Phoenix VA hospital. Similar problems were soon discovered nationwide amid revelations that veterans were waiting months for medical care even as VA employees created secret waiting lists and other falsehoods to cover up the delays.
Trump called problems at the VA under US President Barack Obama “widespread and totally inexcusable” and said that under his leadership, “We are going to save money and we are going to save lives.”
A spokesman for Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign said Trump’s plan would “irreversibly” lead to privatization of the VA.
Trump’s plan “is not a fix at all; it’s an ideological crusade” that “would gut the VA of the resources needed to provide high-quality, coordinated care,” said Bishop Garrison, an Army veteran and Clinton adviser.
The American Federation of Government Employees called Trumps’ plan privatization by another name.
“Donald Trump wants to throw veterans to the wolves,” said the group’s president, J. David Cox, and he accused Trump of “writing a blank check to huge hospital corporations to profit off the suffering of veterans.”
A law approved in the wake of the wait-time scandal created a “Veterans Choice” program that allows veterans to seek private care at government expense, but the program is limited to veterans who have waited at least 30 days for an appointment or live at least 40 miles from a VA health site.
Trump called that the “wrong policy” and said veterans “are not being treated right.”
Trump also said Monday he will crack down on wrongdoing at the VA, pledging to fire or discipline VA employees who “fail our veterans” or breach the public trust.
In an interview after the speech, Trump offered few specifics beyond the 10-point plan, which includes an increase in mental health professionals and a special “White House hotline” dedicated to veterans. But he said he was confident it would save taxpayers money.
“I think it’s going to cost less money than what’s happening now,” he said.
Meanwhile, Republican Donald Trump presented himself as “the lawand-order candidate” with a compassionate heart on Monday, positioning himself as strong on security in response to a wave of anxiety among Americans after the Dallas police shootings.
Trump’s remarks in Virginia Beach, Virginia, showed how much the Dallas violence has shaken up the political conversation with both Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton devoting time to the topic.
“We must maintain law and order at the highest level, or we will cease to have a country — 100 percent,” Trump said. “I am the law-and-order candidate.”
Trump’s remarks about safety and security were added to a speech devoted to reforming the troubled Veterans Administration. He also presented himself as a compassionate candidate and mentioned the two episodes that preceded the Dallas shootings: the killing of two Africanamerican men by police, one in Minnesota and the other in Louisiana.
“But you can’t have true compassion without providing safety to the citizens of our country,” Trump said. “Every kid in American should be able to securely walk the streets of their own neighborhood without harm.
“We will be tough, we will be smart, we will be fair and we will protect all Americans. Without safety we have nothing,” he said.
In the final days of his search for a vice-presidential running mate, Trump was introduced at the event by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who is on Trump’s short list for the job.
Christie showed himself capable of assuming the role of political attack dog, a job the vice-presidential nominee usually assumes. He assailed US President Barack Obama and Clinton.
Trump has been test-driving his vice presidential possibilities. He campaigned last week with former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, and is to appear with a third No. 2 possibility, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, in Indiana on Tuesday.
The New York businessman has appeared most comfortable publicly with Gingrich. Both Gingrich and Christie have been advisers for Trump behind the scenes.
Trump is also considering retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn for the job, but told The Washington Post in an interview published on Monday that he is leaning toward a conventional politician.
“I don’t need two anti-establishment people,” Trump said. “Someone respected by the establishment and liked by the establishment would be good for unification. I do like unification of the Republican Party.”
Trump said he would decide on his vice-presidential pick in the next three or four days. The Republican National Convention, at which he is to be nominated as the party’s candidate, opens in Cleveland next Monday.