The Washington rumor mill won’t let go of the idea that Secretary of Energy Rick Perry will leave his post and move across the National Mall to become head of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“I keep hearing the rumors, too,” one conservative energy lobbyist told the Washington Examiner. One thing’s for certain: Current VA chief David “Shulkin is definitely gone,” said the source, who is keeping a close ear on President Trump’s frequent Cabinet changes.
Shulkin “knows he is done,” an ally told the Washington Post. Trump has told various advisers that he plans to fire Shulkin, although he hasn’t said anything publicly.
But it would be a “terrible job” for Perry, said the Washington Examiner source. The former governor of Texas “could be confirmed elsewhere, but I doubt he is equipped to run anything else, with the possible exception of [the Department of Homeland Security]. Maybe Education.”
Other lobbyists and people with close ties to the White House say the move is not in the cards.
Perry likes being head of the Energy Department, the sources say. Running the VA? Well, that’s work. That’s the general thinking.
Perry himself told the Washington Examiner in an interview this month that he likes where he is at and told Trump as much during a one-on-one lunch several weeks ago. “What he didn’t talk about was me changing jobs,” he said. “The president knows I like where I am.”
That came across during a road trip he took to visit the energy agency’s fleet of national labs in California, where Perry emphasized his role as the head of the Energy Department during a trip to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he was asked to sign his name to a supercomputer there.
“One of the best parts of my job is visiting our National Labs,” Perry tweeted Tuesday.
That doesn’t sound like a man going anywhere. He did, however, make a point of meeting with veterans who work at the lab.
“Thanks again, @SecretaryPerry for meeting with veterans from our laboratory, @SandiaLabs, @SLAClab and @BerkeleyLab. Their experience is an invaluable asset to our success,” tweeted the Lawrence Livermore National Lab.
But does that mean anything? Probably not. Perry also told the Washington Examiner that he has a special focus for veterans issues as energy secretary, pointing out that the Energy Department is comprised of about 40 percent veterans. The agency is even leading an initiative with the VA focused on veterans health issues.
Even if he was hiding the fact that he was leaving, why did he, his staff, and the labs themselves tweet so much of visit?
The Washington Examiner counted just shy of 20 tweets from the Berkeley Lab alone, including a couple of GIFs and a video of him signing a supercomputer.
Perry tweeted a handful of pictures of himself Tuesday, including one of him feasting at an In-and-Out Burger.
