My pledge to our nation’s veterans Denis McDonough December 22, 2020 Former Obama White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough delivers remarks after being introduced as U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Department of Veterans Affairs at the Queen Theater on Dec. 11, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) It is a great honor to be nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as his secretary of Veterans Affairs. As I said at the announcement event in Wilmington earlier this month, I am deeply humbled by the trust and confidence the president-elect has placed in me. If confirmed by the Senate, I am eager to do my part in fulfilling what President-elect Biden accurately refers to as our country’s most sacred obligation: caring for our service members, veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors.
VA gets big funding increase in final fiscal 2021 budget deal December 22, 2020 Active duty military members and veterans salute as the national anthem is played during the opening of the 2019 Santa Barbara County Veteran Stand Down on Oct. 19, 2019, in Santa Maria, Calif. (Airman 1st Class Hanah Abercrombie/Air Force) The Department of Veterans Affairs will see nearly a 12 percent increase in total funding under the full-year spending deal approved by Congress on Monday, another significant financial boost for a department that has seen steady growth over the last two decades. Under the budget measure approved by Congress in last-minute legislative work, the fiscal 2021 budget for the department is set at $243 billion, up $3 billion from the president’s initial request earlier this year and up $26 billion from fiscal 2020 levels.
Mr. Grassley has a point there, and if Republicans retain control over the Senate, his point will stick. After all, why should the GOP allow Democrats to write themselves blank checks after having faced every obstacle and dirty trick when it came to, say, President Trump’s judicial nominees?
Of course, the confirmation of cabinet appointments is not simply a matter of political fairness. It is also a matter of responsibility, of protecting the American people against the bad judgments of politicians. In practice, this would assure someone like Janet Yellen gets through as Treasury secretary, but former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg? How, exactly, is he qualified? Or former Obama White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough for secretary of Veterans Affairs a man who has never served in the armed forces? Or Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, who has had to delete over 1,000 aggressive, inappropriate tweets? How is so partisan an operator fit to run the p
Big six veterans groups ask Trump to fire VA Secretary Wilkie immediately December 16, 2020 Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie speaks at a White House event on April 30, 2020. Multiple veterans groups have called for Wilkie s firing in recent days. (Alex Brandon/AP) The nation’s leading veterans groups on Wednesday formally requested that President Donald Trump fire Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie immediately from his Cabinet post, saying that the VA administrator “no longer has the trust or confidence of America’s veterans.” The letter signed by leaders from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, AMVETS and Vietnam Veterans of America is the latest damning assessment of Wilkie’s ability shepherd the department following the release of an inspector general report last week criticizing his handling of a sexual assault allegation late last year.
Congress finalizes sweeping veterans policy bill with new protections for women, students December 16, 2020 Sailors assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Bremerton in Washington receive information on GI Bill benefits during a college fair on Feb. 20, 2020. (Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Haydn N. Smith/Navy) House lawmakers on Wednesday finalized a massive, sweeping veterans policy measure which includes new protections for student veterans, new aid for veterans hurt by the ongoing pandemic and long sought-after improvements to VA services aimed at women veterans. The 337-page bill cobbled together in recent months from dozens of smaller reform measures easily passed the chamber by a voice vote on Wednesday afternoon. It was advanced by the Senate one week ago without any objections, and now heads to the White House for President Donald Trump’s final signature.