Nine months after first releasing his plan to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs, Donald Trump delivered a policy speech on Monday in which he promised “quality, timely care for every veteran in America” if elected president.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was joined by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in Virginia Beach, just minutes away from the USS Wisconsin in Norfolk, Va., where he first spoke of overhauling the veterans’ healthcare system during a rally last October.
Recommended Stories
“The men and women who have served in our armed forces represent the very best of America,” Trump said Monday. “Now is the time to follow their example of unity, public service and selfless devotion to our country. We made a promise to these heroes. You defend America, and America will defend you.”
In a policy paper released last year, Trump stood with Republicans who’ve said veterans should be able to seek medical and mental healthcare from private physicians and facilities beyond VA clinics. Campaign aides have since suggested that he would push the VA toward “some form of privatization” as president.
But he took it further on Monday, building on his previous veterans’ reform proposals by promising to implement accountability and reverse the corruption that has plagued VA medical facilities across the country.
“Fixing this corruption will be one of my highest priorities — and it will happen. It will be fixed,” he said, adding that he will use “every lawful authority to remove and discipline federal employees or managers who fail our veterans or breach the public trust.”
He promised to appoint a commission to “investigate all the wrongdoing at the VA and then present those findings to Congress as the basis for bold legislative reform” and increase the volume of healthcare professionals available to members of the military just returning to the U.S. and to those who continue to suffer from service-related injuries.
“I am going to make sure that honest and dedicated people in the VA have their jobs protected and are put in line for serious promotions if they continue to do great work,” Trump said, noting that he intends to replace VA Secretary Robert McDonald if he succeeds in his bid for the White House.
A Trump administration, he said, would also install a “private White House hotline” available to 24/7 “to ensure that no valid complaint about the VA and its wrongdoing falls through the cracks.”
“Never again will we allow a veteran to suffer or die waiting for the care they so richly deserve,” Trump assured his audience.
Seeking to contrast himself with Hillary Clinton, Trump claimed the Democratic presidential hopeful can’t be trusted to weed out corruption in the VA and elsewhere in the government because she herself is corrupt.
“Crooked Hillary Clinton is the Secretary of the Status Quo – and wherever Hillary Clinton goes, corruption and scandal follow,” he said.
