Tag: David Shulkin

Trump called ‘Fox & Friends’ host for opinion on veteran care during meeting with VA chief

President Trump dialed in a “Fox & Friends” co-host to weigh in on legislation about veterans’ health care during a meeting with Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary David Shulkin, Axios reported Sunday.

Shulkin and Trump were discussing legislation to reform veterans’ health care during an Oval Office meeting last week when Trump reportedly called “Fox & Friends” co-host Pete Hegseth to get his opinion.

Hegseth, a veteran and former executive director of advocacy group Vets For Freedom, was among those considered to be VA secretary under Trump. Trump is a frequent viewer of Fox News, including the morning show.

Sources told Axios that the phone call put Shulkin in an uncomfortable spot, as Hegseth is pushing for more intense reforms and interviewed for Shulkin’s job.

The Trump administration has listed veterans’ health care as a top priority.

Trump allies have backed offering veterans more alternatives for health care outside of the agency. However, Shulkin is in favor of a more moderate approach that would only outsource treatment in cases where waiting times are too long or veterans live too far away from agency options.

The incident reported by Axios took place amid tensions between Shulkin and the White House. Shulkin has said that Trump political appointees in the agency are attempting to undermine him, and claims he has White House approval to remove them.

He is also under scrutiny after an inspector general report found that he misused taxpayer dollars during a trip to Europe with his wife last year.

Shulkin has denied wrongdoing, but has reimbursed the government for the trip.

[The Hill]

VA cuts program for homeless vets after touting Trump’s commitment

Four days after Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin held a big Washington event to tout the Trump administration’s promise to house all homeless vets, the agency did an about-face, telling advocates it was pulling resources from a major housing program.

The VA said it was essentially ending a special $460 million program that has dramatically reduced homelessness among chronically sick and vulnerable veterans. Instead, the money would go to local VA hospitals that can use it as they like, as long as they show evidence of dealing with homelessness.

Anger exploded on a Dec. 1 call that was arranged by Shulkin’s Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans to explain the move. Advocates for veterans, state officials and even officials from HUD, which co-sponsors the program, attacked the decision, according to five people who were on the call.

“I don’t understand why you are pulling the rug out,” Elisha Harig-Blaine, a National League of Cities housing official who was on the call, said in an interview afterward. “You’re putting at risk the lives of men and women who’ve served this country.”

“The VA is taking its foot off the pedal,” said Leon Winston, an executive at Swords to Plowshares, which helps homeless vets in San Francisco, where he said the VA decision is already having an impact. HUD recently put up 100 housing vouchers for veterans in the program, but the local VA hospital said it could only provide support for 50.

The agency’s move came as HUD on Wednesday released its annual survey showing a 1.5 percent increase in veteran homelessness over 2016 — the first rise since 2010. Most of the jump occurred in Los Angeles, where housing costs are skyrocketing.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who sits on a veterans’ affairs subcommittee, called the VA decision “a new low” for the Trump administration that was “especially callous and perplexing” in view of the latest data on homelessness.

In a statement late Wednesday, Shulkin insisted that overall funding for veteran homelessness was not being cut, and seemed to suggest he might reverse the decision. He promised to get input from local VA leaders and others “on how best to target our funding to the geographical areas that need it most.”

HUD data show there were nearly 40,000 homeless veterans in 2016, and even those with housing still need assistance. The program has reduced the number of displaced servicemembers, serving 138,000 since 2010 and cut the number without housing on a given day by almost half. More than half the veterans housed are chronically ill, mentally ill or have substance abuse problems.

[Politico]