Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin pledged Thursday to fire VA workers who need to be fired in order to ensure the troubled agency can deliver on its promise to veterans.
"Watch us," Shulkin said in a Fox News interview with Pete Hegseth. "People who don't show up to work, who do cocaine and are watching porn at work are going to be fired, because I'm not going to tolerate it, and they're going to be out of our system."
The VA has been criticized heavily over the past few years for only firing a handful of people involved in the healthcare scandal, which involved the systematic delay of medical care to veterans across the country.
Less than a dozen people were fired over the last two years, but many were allowed to retire with full benefits.
Shulkin didn't address the healthcare crisis directly, but did say he is working with Congress on legislation to bring more accountability to the agency.
"I made clear to the Congress and going through the confirmation process that if they expect the VA to be fixed, they have to give the secretary the authority to be able to fix it and hold the secretary accountable," he said.
"And that's what I really expect," Shulkin added. "So I'm working now closely with the Congress, both the House and the Senate, to be able to make sure that we have an accountability bill that allows us to make sure that if people shouldn't be working in the VA, they won't be working in the VA."
He also didn't direct address a new problem, which is a wave of tweets that mock or criticize President Trump that are coming from senior VA officials.
