Obama Staffer SHOWERS PRAISE on President Trump
An Obama administration holdover lavishes praise on President Trump.
The Department of Veterans Affairs finally has hope of fixing overwhelming problems.
David J. Schulkin is the Secretary for the Department of Veterans Affairs. Schulkin represents one of those rare holdovers from the Obama administration. Thus, his comparisons of the two presidents holds a bit more water than most.
The Washington Examiner sat down with Schulkin recently.
“I have found that mandate from him, to get this organization fixed and the support and freedom to go out and challenge old assumptions, as exactly what the VA needs right now,” Shulkin said.
“I think the organization feels more empowered to fix problems than they have in the past. And my hope is that we will be able to set the path so that the organization is earning back that trust that it needs,” he added.
Shulkin, who has won kudos for his management acumen, said that the president is using a businessman’s sense to fix government.
“The president very much looks at this organization like running a business. And he understands that you need to allow the manager of the business to have the freedom to go out and to challenge assumptions and to make decisions,” said the secretary during a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
And that’s a good thing?
“Slow, incremental change isn’t what this organization needs,” he said. “He did not come in to make incremental change; he came in to set a fundamental different course in direction when it comes to providing services to veterans,” Shulkin said. “Acting quicker and more decisively is part of that management style.”
Trump is Pro-Veteran
Trump just signed a bill to help veterans. As Fox News elaborates:
President Trump said Friday he was “very happy” to sign into law two bills that would provide help to members of law enforcement and veterans.
Seated at a table in the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room, Trump approved a measure giving priority for federal grants to those federal and state law enforcement agencies that hire and train veterans.
“We are behind you 100 percent,” he said to the veterans at the ceremony.
Promises Made, Promises Kept
That’s not the first campaign promise Trump made, then kept to veterans.
Recently, Trump signed the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistle-blower Protection Act of 2017.
As the Daily Signal relayed:
The bill was set up to create a new streamlined process to remove, demote, or suspend any VA employee for poor performance or misconduct. It also provides expanded protections for whistle-blowers and bars the VA from using this removal authority if the employee has an open whistle-blower complaint.
The new law also allows the VA secretary to to reduce an employee’s federal pension if he is convicted of a felony that influenced his job at the VA and to directly appoint individuals to the positions of medical center director at VA centers.
If you don’t support America’s warriors, “You’re fired!”
Trump’s moves contrasts Obama.
Under Obama’s watch, scandals rocked the VA. One such scandal involved waiting lists. As most in-tune Americans know, some veterans waited so long to see the doctor, they died on waiting lists. Others were simply denied care, a precursor to Obamacare for veterans.
Others were treated, but ended up in serious condition.
Many times records were falsified. Nevertheless, many of the employees involved stayed on the payroll after the scandal broke.
Trump vowed to hold government employees accountable.
Obama never held VA employees accountable.
Last year, we chronicled the story of a 30-year-old veteran who tried desperately to get help for his PTSD. He was turned away because he wasn’t suicidal yet.
Once he crossed over, he tried calling the suicide hotline. Sadly, no one answered. The young warrior laid down in front of a train to die.
Later, someone did return his call, a little too late.
Obama was the king of “a little too late.” His indecision or lack of decision-making killed many Americans. But, as David Schulkin suggests, Trump is a very different leader; a true leader who cares about veterans.