Senate confirms Trump’s pick for VA secretary
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Moments after confirming Steve Mnuchin as Secretary of the Treasury, physician David Shulkin was unanimously confirmed as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Mnuchin and Shulkin bring the total of confirmed members of Trump’s Cabinet to eight, joining the secretaries of State, Defense, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Transportation and Attorney General.
Republicans and Democrats praised Shulkin, who is charged with delivering on Trump’s campaign promises to fix long-standing problems at Veterans Affairs.
Shulkin, 57, a former Obama administration official, has been the VA’s top health official since 2015. He secured the backing of Senate Democrats after pledging at his confirmation hearing to always protect veterans’ interests, even if it meant disagreeing at times with Trump.
He has ruled out fully privatizing the agency and says wide-scale firings of VA employees are unnecessary, describing the VA workforce as “the best in health care.”
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