One of President Trump's several executive orders this week included a federal hiring freeze. A group of congressmen, however, are asking the president to please exempt the Veterans Affairs agency so the department can continue to serve our veterans uninterrupted.
In a letter to the president, House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairmen Phil Roe, M.D. (R-Tenn.) and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) ask that the VA be spared, since it would be in keeping with Trump's plan to exempt positions necessary for public safety.
“Also, as you have rightfully recognized many times before, the VA healthcare system is currently in a state of crisis," the chairmen write. "We must ensure that, while we work toward our mutual goal of VA healthcare reform, VA is not further hampered by an inability to recruit high-quality clinicians to meet the immediate health care needs of our veterans.”
The Veterans Affairs agency has been bogged down by scandals all over the country these past few years. Unsanitary conditions, inexcusable wait times and negligence have Americans demanding change in the VA leadership.
That's what veterans are hoping for in Trump's nominee for VA Secretary David Shulkin. Although Shulkin is what you'd call an insider, currently serving as the Under Secretary for Health for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, he is nevertheless known as a successful "turnaround artist."
