Just-confirmed VA secretary is top North Carolinian in Trump administration

Robert Wilkie, who grew up in Fayetteville the son of an injured Vietnam combat veteran, was confirmed Monday as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, becoming the leader of the embattled agency that provides health care for military veterans.

The Senate confirmed the 55-year-old Wilkie by a vote of 86-9.

“Robert Wilkie is the right man for the job,” said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Montana, the ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Wilkie, who worked as an aide to several Republican senators and at the Department of Defense under two GOP presidents, becomes the most prominent North Carolinian in President Donald Trump’s administration. Wilkie attended high school in Fayetteville and college at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem before working for Sen. Jesse Helms, the North Carolina Republican Party and, recently, Sen. Thom Tillis.

Linda McMahon, who heads the Small Business Administration, grew up in New Bern and attended East Carolina. But she ran for Senate in Connecticut, which is home to the wrestling entertainment company WWE, headed by her husband. Several top Trump administration officials have deep South Carolina ties, including U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, the state’s former governor, and Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, a former House member from South Carolina.

“Mr. Wilkie, I believe, has the experience, the compassion and the drive to make sure our Department of Veterans Affairs can efficiently and effectively serve those who has served in uniform, to whom we owe a moral duty,” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Wilkie is a reserve officer in the Air Force and previously served in the Navy reserve. His father, Robert Leon Wilkie Sr., served two tours in Vietnam and retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel. He was badly injured in his second tour in Vietnam, and his 7-year-old son watched the “agonizing recovery,” Wilkie told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

“That experience was on my mind when I was asked to come to the VA,” Wilkie told the committee.

Wilkie was confirmed by the Senate on a voice vote to his position as undersecretary for personnel and readiness at the Department of Defense, a department where he previously worked under George W. Bush. Wilkie worked for Tillis as a military affairs adviser after his 2014 election to the Senate until Trump tapped him.

Tillis said he always knew Wilkie was “destined to serve the nation at a higher level.”

“With a strong secretary like Robert Wilkie in Veterans Affairs, we’re finally going to start making progress and repaying the debt that we can never fully repay to men and women who have served in uniform,” Tillis said on the Senate floor Monday.

Wilkie replaces David Shulkin, who was fired in late March. Ronny L. Jackson, Trump’s first choice to replace Shulkin, withdrew from consideration in late April after allegations of professional misconduct surfaced. Wilkie, who had been appointed as interim director, was then picked for the permanent post in May in a surprise announcement.

Wilkie’s nomination faced little opposition, although a Washington Post article highlighted his work on controversial topics for conservative lawmakers, like Helms of North Carolina and Trent Lott of Mississippi. Wilkie addressed some of it — like attending memorial events for Confederate soldiers and defending hostility to women and minorities by his bosses — during a Senate committee confirmation hearing.

“He supported Senator Helms’ discriminatory campaign tactics, defended the Confederate flag and backed the military’s transgender ban. His history offers no assurances that he would stand up to a president who holds dangerous and uninformed views about minorities, women and the LGBT community,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, who voted no.

Lawmakers mainly focused in the hearing on the daunting problems facing the department, as it tries to deliver medical services to veterans of several generations with many different needs, including traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress for younger veterans of long-running wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. And they made it clear that, having approved additional funding and passed legislation to solve the issues, they expect Wilkie to make progress.

The department has a $180 billion budget, making it the second largest behind the Department of Defense. Trump signed the VA Mission Act in June, which allows more access to health care outside of the VA system.

Wilkie advanced on a voice vote in committee, with only Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, voting no. Sanders and Feinstein were joined by seven other Democrats in voting no on final confirmation.

Veterans Affairs became a Cabinet-level postion under President George H.W. Bush in 1989, and Wilkie is the 10th person to hold the secretary position.

“I’m confident that Mr. Wilkie is focused on putting veterans first, changing the VA culture and ridding it of any complacency,” Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, said before Monday’s vote. “Of course, Mr. Wilkie has a huge, monumental task ahead of him.”

The department has been beset by problems for years, including long wait times, high suicide rates among veterans and opioid addiction. It faces the issues of providing service to more female veterans and keeping pay competitive with the private sector. In the days ahead of Wilkie’s confirmation, some employees have been “purged” who are not loyal to Trump, according to The Washington Post.

Wilkie came out against privatization during his confirmation hearing, but questions about whether or not Trump wants to privatize the VA have lingered since his inauguration. Shulkin said he was fired because he was opposed to privatization efforts.

“His Senate confirmation today means that the nation’s 20 million veterans can regain a VA that has the consistency of leadership and vision that taking proper care of our nation’s veterans requires,” said Joe Chenelly, the executive director of American Veterans, a group founded in 1944 by World War II vets.

This story was originally published July 23, 2018 at 6:09 PM with the headline "Just-confirmed VA secretary is top North Carolinian in Trump administration."