Trump’s choice for the VA secretary easily approved by the Senate

Doug Collins, a chaplain of the Air Force and former GOP congress member, was easy to confirm on Tuesday as a secretary for veteran affairs.

The Senate voted 77-23 for the approval of Collins to head the Ministry of Veteran Affairs and gave the department a Senate leader in the Trump administration for two weeks.

Collins now takes over the leadership of the VA at a time when it comes to budget problems, which are used by the expansion of both veterans according to the PACT Act and the availability of the veterans of the private sector.

Read next: Provider of mental health in Tricare East go unpaid by damage processor switch

He is also accused of executing the reaction of the VA to the dozens of executive orders that President Donald Trump signed in his first weeks of office, e.g.

Collins “showed my colleague and me that he is willing to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs into the future and to support the constantly changing needs of the veterans of our country by ensuring that it has the timely and high quality health care and -As received advantages that you rightly deserved.

Collins slid through his confirmation process, especially compared to Trump’s most controversial cabinet tips such as Defense Minister Pete Hegseth.

Collins had a largely uneventful hearing for confirmation in front of the Senate Committee for Veteran Matters of the Senate last month.

During the hearing, he swore to preserve the VA’s health system and at the same time strengthen the veterans of the private sector that is available with VA financial means.

“We will fight for a strong VA,” said Collins during the hearing. “I think you can have a strong VA because it currently exists and have one aspect of the community care.”

Another major challenge that Collins is expected to face is the overhauled overhaul of the electronic health records of $ 16 billion, which have been in queue for almost two years due to security concerns with regard to the new program.

“We look forward to the project check,” said Collins at the hearing. “Today I am aware that I am all committed here – we will all bring it onto the table, this is (the) seller, this is VA, all in the middle, and find out what this problem is because it is time is to fix it. “

While Collins as a congress member from Georgia -including the opposite abortions and LGBTQ+ rights and the support of Trump’s efforts to support the 2020 elections, had a strong conservative voting report, Collins largely supported VA secretary.

The Democrats also noted Collins that they will carefully observe his first movements as a secretary.

Immediately after the confirmation vote on Tuesday on Tuesday, Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn sent. Re -hiring of the General Inspector VA, which was released by Trump and calls the late withdrawal offer to VA employees.

“Your success as a secretary and her credibility is largely determined by the first measures that you take when you accept your new office,” wrote Blumenthal. “Today is their opportunity to take into account the assurances during their confirmation hearing – to work for veterans in strong resistance to these arbitrary and harmful guidelines and to put veterans in the first place.”

Related: VA Secretary Candidate promise to modernize the hospital infrastructure and to promote community provision

The story continues