Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin has survived a few major scandals this year, but some believe he’s highly likely to be pushed out of his job soon, as additional watchdog reports will soon be released that will force him to explain more waste, abuse, and bungling at the troubled department.
“I think there’s an 80 percent chance he won’t be around in another month or two,” said one informed source close to the situation.
Shulkin, an appointee of former President Barack Obama’s, by most accounts had a steady and even glowing 2017 under President Trump. But in February, an inspector general report did severe damage to his reputation by describing how his chief of staff lied in order to have taxpayers pay for his wife to accompany him on a nine-day trip to Europe, most of which was used as vacation time.
That was followed by more reports of medical mishaps around the country. In Miami, officials reportedly botched HIV tests for at least eight veterans, and a report surfaced that there are problems with rats and roaches.
And on Wednesday, the IG found that VA leadership did nothing to fix up the VA medical center in Washington, D.C., which was plagued by unsterile surgical equipment that caused “avoidable hospitalizations.”
Shulkin scrambled to react to that newest report, which the VA said revealed “failures on a number of levels.” He promised unscheduled site visits around the country, staffing reviews, and the pending retirement of two senior officials.
But even as he struggles to weather those storms, more storms are coming. At least two new reports are expected to be released this year, and some believe the new wave of bad headlines they’ll create for the VA could seal Shulkin’s fate.
The first is an IG report that is widely expected to say Shulkin has been inappropriately using his staff to run personal errands for him. That report, described first by the Daily Beast, is expected to be released in the coming days, according to sources.
Sometime later this year, another report is expected to describe problems the VA had, and the money it wasted, trying to move to an electronic health records system.
These pending scandals facing the VA have the potential to erode Shulkin’s support even further in two key constituencies that are already “disappointed” in how Shulkin has acted so far: veterans service organizations, and the House and Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committees.
In February, major groups like the American Legion said they were “disappointed” to learn about the travel scandal. Veterans of Foreign Wars defended Shulkin against the “disingenuous actions of a few political appointees,” but was clearly not happy with the new “distractions” the VA is facing, some of which are closely connected to Shulkin.
Wednesday’s revelations about the Washington medical center brought more bad headlines for the VA, and once again put veterans’ groups in the position of pleading for an end to it all, even as they avoided the looming question of whether Shulkin should go.
“We thought that he did an outstanding job his first year in office,” Concerned Veterans for America Executive Director Dan Caldwell told the Washington Examiner. “But we have been extremely disappointed by how he has handled himself over the past few weeks following the release of the Inspector General report on his travel.”
“We aren’t calling for him to resign or be fired. What we want him to do is end the drama and get back to work,” he said.
Congressional committees are also backing Shulkin, at least for now. On Wednesday, House Chairman Phil Roe, R-Tenn., said the findings in the latest report about Washington, D.C., were “unacceptable” and worked in a quick thank you to Shulkin for working quickly to fix it.
The White House on Wednesday said Shulkin has done a “great job,” but there’s no telling how much longer the pressure can keep building before Trump is forced to step in, just as he has with other White House aides and Cabinet officials who simply became too big a distraction.
In the meantime, people who like to bet on these sorts of things seem to have made up their minds. According to PredictIt.org, Shulkin has been the first or second most likely Cabinet official to be fired since the travel scandal broke in February, and was the leading candidate as of Wednesday.
