Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) says he’ll put a maintain on President Trump’s nominees to guide the Division of Veterans Affairs (VA) to protest cuts on the company that gives lifelong well being care providers to navy veterans.
“Talking to veterans, people that I served with as well as seeing some of what’s happening in Arizona, I decided that whatever tool I have to fix the situation, I’m going to use it. And this is one of the few tools I have at this point,” Gallego, a Marine Corps veteran, instructed The Related Press.
There’s one nominee to the Division of Veterans Affairs on the Senate’s govt calendar: Richard Topping, who’s picked to function the VA’s chief monetary officer.
The Related Press reported earlier this month that the division is planning to chop greater than 80,000 jobs to return to its prepandemic staffing stage of lower than 400,000 staff.
The Trump administration fired 2,400 probationary staff on the VA final month.
13 positions on the division require Senate affirmation to be stuffed on a long-term foundation.
Gallego is a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
In an announcement, VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz famous that well being care on the VA has been on the Authorities Accountability Workplace’s high-risk checklist for greater than a decade.
“Imagine how much better off Veterans would be if lawmakers like Sen. Gallego cared as much about fixing VA as they do about protecting the department’s broken bureaucracy,” Kasperowicz wrote.
He famous that GAO has discovered the VA faces “system-wide challenges in overseeing patient safety and access to care, hiring critical staff, and meeting future infrastructure needs.”
“Under Secretary Collins, VA is working hard to fix these and other issues. Unfortunately, many in the media, government union bosses and some in Congress are fighting to keep in place the broken status quo. Our message to Veterans is simple: Despite major opposition from those who don’t want to change a thing at VA, we will reform the department to make it work better for Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors.”
This story was up to date at 11:02 a.m.
