The outgoing chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee said he would give it “very serious consideration” if President-elect Trump called on him to serve as the next secretary of veterans affairs, but that he hasn’t been called.
Trump told the Associated Press in July that he was considering Rep. Jeff Miller to be the head of the VA because he “certainly is someone a lot of people respect,” citing his work to reform the agency amid the wait time crisis. Miller, R-Fla., is retiring from Congress at the end of this year after 15 years on Capitol Hill.
Miller said he has not talked to the transition team about the job at the top of the Veterans Affairs Department.
“You have to have a leader in a president that wants to make a change and Donald Trump is that change agent,” Miller told the Washington Examiner amid piles of boxes as he begins to pack up his Capitol Hill office. “So to answer your question, it’s pure media speculation at this point. Everybody is trying to move chess pieces around the board. I’m focused on finishing my job as chairman of the veterans committee in Congress.”
Pressed on whether he would be interested in the Cabinet position, Miller said it’s something he would be open to.
“Any time the president of the United States calls you and asks you to be helpful, especially in an organization that I believe in, it’s something you have to give very serious consideration,” he said.
Miller said the next secretary’s top priorities must be increasing accountability and transparency to allow the secretary to fire poor performers, things he has worked toward as chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
Miller’s departure from Congress will also leave the chairman job at committee open. Those in consideration to take control of the gavel are Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., and Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo.
“All are very capable of chairing the committee and I have not favored one over the other. We’re all friends and they have all worked very diligently as this committee has done its work over the last six years that I’ve been chairman,” he said.
Miller also said he expected some of the new veterans joining the 115th Congress to be interested in getting a seat on the committee.
“You used to have to look for people to fill positions on the VA committee. Now, actually, it’s a committee that members seek out and we have to choose,” Miller said.
