Denis McDonough confirmed as President Biden's veterans affairs chief

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post




The Senate on Monday confirmed Denis McDonough as President Biden’s veterans affairs secretary, choosing a non-veteran but a manager with years of government service to lead the sprawling health and benefits agency. McDonough, 51, was chief of staff during Barack Obama’s second term and held senior roles on the National Security Council and on Capitol Hill before that.

He told senators at his confirmation hearing that although he is not a veteran, his long career as a behind-the-scenes troubleshooter and policymaker would serve him well at the Department of Veterans Affairs, a massive bureaucracy beset by multiple challenges. “I can unstick problems inside agencies and across agencies, especially at an agency as large as VA,” McDonough told the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee in January.

Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called VA’s mission to care for veterans “one of organization, institutional know-how, and administrative troubleshooting.” McDonough’s “decades of experience at the highest levels of government” qualify him for that mission, Schumer said. McDonough was confirmed on an 87-to-7 vote.

VA, the second-largest federal agency, includes a health-care system that serves 9 million veterans, a vast benefits bureaucracy and dozens of national cemeteries. Management and workforce challenges have long beset leaders in both parties. A scandal over fudged wait-time lists for medical appointments led Obama to fire his first veterans chief.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/veterans-secretary-mcdonough/2021/02/08/df3b713a-6a19-11eb-ba56-d7e2c8defa31_story.html

[mobeau69]

1. Another excellent pick by Joe the Covid killer.

[msfiddlestix]

2. That's nice to know.

Sure would love to know when the AG will be confirmed.

On McDonough's confirmation, I see that 7 voted to oppose. Wonder if those 7 are the Senate Insurgents.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I think they are doing the "easiest" first

The AG, although Garland is well known and has been confirmed before, is an obvious critical and probably hassle-provoking position given what is going on today. And since his hearings would happen in the Judiciary Committee, they had to get that damn Senate organizing resolution finished and voted on (which has been done) to transfer the Committee Chairs over to Democrats post haste, because Graham was blocking and hemming and hawing.

Now that Dick Durbin will Chair that Committee, he can get ready for the AG hearings, and just smack Graham aside - although as part of the organizing agreement, Grassley will be Ranking Member and not Graham, which is quite a "demotion" for Graham.

However, the Impeachment trial starts tomorrow AND the Senate is also working on Biden's big COVID-19 Budget Reconciliation package, so they would have to work around the timing of that for hearings, and doing Garland will be delayed (Durbin wanted to do it today but the hemming and hawing happened and the decision was to go ahead and start Impeachment on the 9th, but they did get the VA confirmation done today and that wasn't expected until later too).

[msfiddlestix]

5. Thank you! It is interesting but frustrating, that this business has been stalled on this specific

confirmation. It's like a kid having to bring home his report card with straight F's to his parents for signature. But the dog ate it and there's nothing to see anyway it's nobody's damn business.

I suspect Graham is very worried about some things related to his celebrating with his Proud Boys comrades at the Hotel on the night before Jan 6th insurrection. Not to mention some possible sticky legal matters with his interference with the Georgia elections, and I might add that I suspect he did the same in other states that didn't get publicized like his antics in Georgia did.

I'm very relieved to at least learn that he no longer will be co-chairing the Judiciary. That's very good news. But what will be better news, is if his ass gets locked up. (I know it won't, but still).

I really want this confirmation done so Garland can restore justice to the Dept of Justice.

[Akakoji]

3. Hawley, Cotton, Cruz, Ernst, etc.

All voted against of course. No stated reason. Other than

[HDSam]

6. I'm sure he'll do fine

but I would have much preferred a qualified Veteran be selected to run the Veterans Administration. Veteran unemployment runs higher than the general population and selecting a non-Veteran instead of a qualified Veteran for the top position does nothing to suggest this trend will change.

One of the requirements when I applied for my job at the VHA was that I was a Veteran. Why? Because I spend most of my time talking to fellow Veterans about services, programs, laws, policies, regulations, legislation, and benefits that are relevant to us. Being able to share my experiences, struggles, successes, having the ‘been there, done that’ background goes a long way in communicating with my fellow Veterans.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. My father worked for the VA

(way before it was made a department) from the mid-50s until 1974 when he unfortunately passed away, so in my younger years, I "grew up with" the VA (he was a WW2 vet too). He was a COBOL programmer, where his team wrote the programs to process the various VA checks.

[IronLionZion]

8. VA has tremendous challenges

and Biden is making excellent choices to lead these agencies. I wish him luck. He's going to need it.