AURORA | Aurora Congressman Mike Coffman got his wish with President Trump firing Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin. Now he’s suggesting that if replacement White House Doctor Ronny Jackson wants to be successful, he will have to make major changes in the agency.
“I want to sit down with him before he’s confirmed and takes the position. I’m very concerned that unless he (Jackson) understands that there is this calcified layer at the top of this bureaucracy — he’s just got to clean it up or it’ll never change,” Coffman told the Sentinel.
A Navy rear admiral, Jackson is a surprise choice to succeed Shulkin, a former Obama administration official and the first non-veteran to head the VA. Trump had been considering replacing Shulkin for weeks but had not been known to be considering Jackson for the role.
Coffman has said for months in order to change the culture at the VA he believes it will take a leader from outside of the agency.
“He’s going to have to be Marine Corps. tough,” Coffman said.
In a statement, Trump praised Jackson as “highly trained and qualified.” It was a decision that signaled Trump chose to go with someone he knows and trusts, rather than choosing a candidate with a longer resume, to run a massive agency facing huge bureaucratic challenges.
Coffman said he was convinced Shulkin was a bad fit for the agency after learning Shulking would not fire Stella Fiotes from the agency. Coffman said she actively kept Congress out of the loop on the problems facing the VA hospital in Aurora. Instead, she was promoted to division of acquisition, logistics and construction for the agency.
“He did pull her back from the position, but he still left her in charge,” he said.
Not everybody shares Coffman’s sentiments on the firing of Shulkin.
Rep. Phil Roe, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said he believed Shulkin did a “fantastic job” and didn’t think he should have been dismissed, but “at the end of the day, Cabinet secretaries serve at the pleasure of the president.”
“I respect President Trump’s decision, support the president’s agenda and remain willing to work with anyone committed to doing the right thing on behalf of our nation’s veterans,” said Roe, a Republican from Tennessee.
Shulkin is the second Cabinet secretary to depart over controversies involving expensive travel, following Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price’s resignation last September.
Shulkin had agreed to reimburse the government more than $4,000 after the VA’s internal watchdog concluded last month that he had improperly accepted Wimbledon tennis tickets and that his then-chief of staff had doctored emails to justify his wife traveling to Europe with him at taxpayer expense. Shulkin also blamed internal drama at the agency on a half-dozen or so rebellious political appointees, insisting he had White House backing to fire them.
The VA change comes as Trump is trying to expand the Veterans Choice program, fulfilling a campaign promise that major veterans’ groups worry could be an unwanted step toward privatizing VA health care. His plan remains in limbo in Congress.
Having pushed through legislation in Trump’s first year making it easier to fire bad VA employees and speed disability appeals, Shulkin leaves behind a department in disarray. Several projects remain unfinished, including a multibillion-dollar overhaul of electronic medical records aimed at speeding up wait times for veterans seeking medical care as well as expanded mental health treatment for veterans at higher risk of suicide.
In Aurora, the VA hospital costs nearly quadrupled to more than a billion dollars, and construction is four years behind schedule — a major point of contention with the agency for Coffman. Now reports point out the first floor will have to remain open in addition to opening the new hospital, which is double the size.
“You will never change the culture of the VA without changing the people at the top,” Coffman said. “The rank and file at large want to do what’s right for our veterans. Out of fairness, because I’ve been heard on the last three (secretaries), I owe it to him (Jackson) to reach out before he takes his position and share what I know today about what has to happen.”
Associated Press reporters Hope Yet and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.