Trump Announces David Shulkin As Pick For Secretary Of Veterans Affairs

[pbmus]

Source: NPR


David Shulkin, the under secretary for health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, leaves a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump on Monday at Trump Tower in New York.
Evan Vucci/AP

President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he plans to nominate David Shulkin to be his secretary of veterans affairs, a position that requires Senate confirmation.

Shulkin is currently the under secretary for health at the VA, which means he runs the Veterans Health Administration. He was nominated for that position by President Obama in March 2015 and confirmed by the Senate that June

Shulkin's official bio says he is a physician — a board-certified internist — and was the chief executive or chief medical officer of several hospitals and hospital systems. He's also an entrepreneur who founded a health care information company called DoctorQuality.

Notably, he's not a veteran. As NPR's Quil Lawrence reported last month, the VA has always been headed by a veteran

Read more: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/11/509318144/trump-announces-david-shulkin-as-pick-for-secretary-of-veterans-affairs

[marybourg]

1. Is this his first pick who actually has

experience in the dept to which he's being appointed? I can't recall any others.

I guess that's the "David" he was yammering on about at his pisser this A.M.

[Phoenix61]

2. Yes it is

not only that, he's an Obama appointee. To bad Trump didn't show the same good sense for all his other appointees.

[Hortensis]

4. "AMVETS is pleasantly surprised with President-elect Trump's nominee

to lead VA." (Apparently it surprised the nominee himself.)

“In the absence of clarity about who was to lead the VA, we grew more than a little concerned that political considerations might undermine veterans’ best interests,” said AMVETS Executive Director Joe Chenelly. “But this wise decision by President-elect Trump validates what we’ve long known and said – that the Veterans Health Administration is on the right track despite a prolonged, concerted smear campaign aimed at dismantling and privatizing veterans care. We applaud the transition team’s diligence.”

Since the election, AMVETS has been calling for continuity in leadership to protect and sustain the crucial improvement already underway within the VA. Dr. Shulkin is a strong leader who’s been a driving force behind these modernizations and improvements.

“While our membership has been clear in its preference to have a veteran leading the VA, I am heartened by the fact that Dr. Shulkin seems to legitimately ‘get it.’ Even as the undersecretary for VHA, Dr. Shulkin has continued to personally see patients in an admirable effort to stay in touch with veterans and caregivers,” said Chenelly.

AMVETS is looking forward to the confirmation process and will be paying close attention.

Wonder WHOSE influence on Trump this choice reflects.

[Hortensis]

3. Oh, super fantastic! Trump passed over Koch subversive

Pete Hegseth. Hegseth was head of the Koch front Concerned Veterans for America, which is trying to destroy the VA. This is a significant setback to the anti-government extremist hyenas trying to control Trump.

Shulkin had been approved by Obama as VA undersecretary, so he's probably okay. In this situation, I'd suggest that, relatively speaking, Shulkin not being a veteran is not so important. This should be good news for the veterans who value and depend on the VA.



This Hegseth, THIS professional subversive grou.


Actually, Hegseth is reportedly an entirely Koch-made man, who very recently left CVA without explanation, leaving observers to wonder what happened between him and the Kochs. Vets may just have gotten lucky.