Wilkie wins OK to lead VA
Senate confirms Trump’s third nominee for post.
WASHINGTON — After months of tumult, Pentagon official Robert Wilkie was confirmed as secretary of Veterans Affairs on Monday by a Senate vote, as he takes on the task of fulfilling President Donald Trump’s promises to fire bad VA employees and steer more patients to the private sector.
Wilkie is Trump’s third pick for the job in 18 months. The long-time public official says he will “shake up complacency” at VA, which has struggled with long waits in providing medical treatment to millions of veterans.
He won confirmation by a vote of 86-9 after a Senate panel approved his nomination. Only Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at the time voted “no,” citing concerns the Trump administration would “privatize” VA.
Wilkie, 55, is expected to be sworn into office quickly, the White House has told some veterans groups, possibly joining Trump at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention Tuesday in Kansas City. VFW has left a slot open for the “VA secretary” to speak before Trump addresses the convention.
Trump selected Wilkie for the post in May after firing his first VA secretary, David Shulkin, amid ethics charges and internal rebellion at the department over the role of private care for veterans. Trump’s initial replacement choice, White House doctor Ronny Jackson, withdrew after allegations of workplace misconduct surfaced.
Wilkie, a former assistant secretary of defense under President George W. Bush, has received mostly positive reviews from veterans groups for his management experience, but the extent of his willingness to expand private care as an alternative to government-run VA care remains largely unknown.
Trump last year pledged he would triple the number of veterans “seeing the doctor of their choice.” Currently more than 30 percent of VA appointments are made in the private sector.
During his confirmation hearing, the Air Force and Navy veteran insisted he would not privatize the government’s second-largest agency of 360,000 employees and would make sure VA health care is “fully funded.” When pressed by Sen. Jon Tester, the top Democrat on the panel, if he would be willing to disagree with Trump, Wilkie responded “yes.”
“I have been privileged to work for some of the most high-powered people in this town,” said Wilkie, a Pentagon undersecretary for Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. “They pay me for ... opinions, and I give those to them.”
Wilkie will be charged with carrying out a newly signed law by Trump to ease access to private health providers. That law gives the VA secretary wide authority to decide when veterans can bypass the VA, based on whether they receive “quality” care. Major veterans groups see VA medical centers as bestsuited to veterans’ specialized needs, such as treatment for post-traumatic stress.
Wilkie also will have more power under a new accountability law to fire VA employees. Lawmakers have raised questions about the law’s implementation, including how whistleblower complaints are handled and whether the law is being disproportionately used against rank-and-file employees.
“The tone has been set by President Trump on the direction of VA reforms,” said Dan Caldwell, executive director of the conservative Concerned Veterans for America.