Former Veteran Affairs chief David Shulkin is another casualty in an administration where 43% of original appointees haven’t made it beyond the first year. The White House says Shulkin resigned. John Kelly says Trump fired him. In this case, it matters whether he was fired or resigned. ProPublica:
The distinction isn’t just a matter of semantics. Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, the president can appoint an interim successor to succeed a cabinet secretary who dies, resigns or can’t perform his or her duties. But it doesn’t say what happens if the secretary is fired. It’s unsettled legal territory, but some scholars say it could open the door to challenging decisions made by the person Trump appointed as acting VA secretary, Robert Wilkie (an official in the Department of Defense). The argument would be that Wilkie lacked proper authority to make the decisions in question, the scholars say. [...]
Wilkie has already worried some veterans advocates. His first official public statement marked the anniversary of a massive scandal at the Phoenix VA four years ago. In the statement, he called on Congress to pass legislation that would increase the use of private care, which has been stalemated for months. In a rare alignment, veterans groups including Amvets and CVA endorsed a compromise that would have been attached to last month’s spending package, but House Democrats blocked it. At the recent meeting with Wilkie, the veterans groups generally agreed to proceed with that compromise.
But some were also unnerved by the presence of a colonel in uniform as an adviser to Wilkie. One participant described it as “DoD is running VA.” That idea is more sensitive than it might sound because the White House has floated the notion of merging the VA with the Pentagon’s health insurance system, known as Tricare. Some veterans groups warn that would increase privatization and out-of-pocket costs.
Trump’s choice of permanent successor to the VA post is White House doctor Ronny Jackson. At this time his views on policy are unknown and he also has no major management experience, which is problematic to say the least since the VA is one of the largest departments in the government. Nevertheless, his confirmation hearing is set for April 25 and it may be yet another escapade of the woefully unqualified going through a rubber stamp process. This is where the real damage of this incompetent administration is felt. It’s going to take years to go through HUD, EPA, Education, State, and others and correct the errors and omissions of the painfully inadequate group of individuals that Trump has elevated to posts completely beyond their capacity and life experience. And we the people will be picking up the tab and cleaning up the mess.
It is infinitely sad that our men and women in uniform, who have served us so faithfully and so well are getting short shrift from a draft dodger.