(Washington, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, released the following statement after meeting in her Senate office with Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson, M.D., President Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
“In our meeting today, I appreciated how strongly Dr. Jackson spoke against privatizing the VA, but I still need to know more about how he will stand up to ideological opponents of VA and remain fully committed to putting the needs of veterans first. I will have a number of follow-up questions for Dr. Jackson, including his goals for VA, his commitment to protecting veterans from privatization, and his relative lack of leadership and managerial experience. I will also want to hear more about his willingness to work with Congress to faithfully implement vital policy changes and would like more clarity on his plans to reduce wait times, expand the Caregivers program, and what else he would do to strengthen VA for the long term.
“The most important thing I consider for any nominee to this position is if they will make the men and women who so bravely served our country their top priority. I still have a lot of questions for Dr. Jackson and I look forward to continuing this conversation at his hearing next week.”
Last month, Senator Murray wrote to President Trump to outline her priorities for a future VA Secretary. Read that letter here.
According to the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs’ Committee, Dr. Jackson’s confirmation hearing will be held Wednesday, April 25, 2018.
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