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GOP, vet groups react with caution to Trump VA pick | TheHill

posted onMarch 30, 2018
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Article snippet: MORE’s pick to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), a Navy doctor with no experience leading a federal bureaucracy. Both the Republican chairman and the Democratic ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee said only that they look forward to meeting Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson. Several veterans groups expressed some concern about Jackson’s qualifications, but did not immediately oppose him, saying that questions need to be answered during the confirmation process. “We look forward to understanding more about the qualifications of Admiral Ronny L. Jackson, MD to helm the VA during this critical time,” Carl Blake, executive director of Paralyzed Veterans of America, said in a statement. “The VA has a broad mission and the secretary must be someone who is eminently qualified to lead the nation's second largest cabinet agency.” On Wednesday night, Trump announced on Twitter that he’d tapped Jackson to replace MORE, who fell out of the president’s good graces after turmoil over the direction of private health care for veterans and a scathing inspector general report accusing him of misusing taxpayer dollars on a trip to Europe. Shulkin’s firing was expected, but Jackson was not among the names circulating as possible replacements. Statements from lawmakers and veterans groups poured in Wednesday night, heavily praising Shulkin for his service at the department. When it came to Jackson, though, the statements were generally shorter and more neutral.... Link to the full article to read more

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