28-408: Anthony Joseph Principi (born April 16, 1944) is the former United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs . He was appointed by President George W. Bush on January 23, 2001, and resigned on January 26, 2005. He Chaired the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, BRAC and is currently serving as a Consultant & Board member of several diverse Foundations & Corporations. Principi
56-490: A pay for performance company called DoctorQuality, which ultimately failed. In 2015, Shulkin left the private sector when he was named by President Barack Obama as Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). When his staff told him it would take ten months to organize a summit on combat veteran suicides , Shulkin told them that during
84-469: Is a member of the Cabinet and second to last at seventeenth in the line of succession to the presidency (the position was last until the addition of the United States Department of Homeland Security in 2006 ). Until the appointment of David Shulkin in 2017, all appointees and acting appointees to the post were United States military veterans, but that is not a requirement to fill the position. When
112-481: Is an American physician and former government official. In 2017, Shulkin became the ninth United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs and served under President Donald Trump . He was the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health from 2015 until 2017, appointed by President Barack Obama . On March 28, 2018, President Trump dismissed Shulkin from his position by tweet , and announced that Physician to
140-686: The Department of the Navy . He left active duty in 1980 after 14 years of commissioned service to serve as Republican counsel to the Senate Armed Services Committee at the invitation of Senator John Tower of Texas. Principi has worked on national policy issues and has held several executive-level positions in federal government throughout his career. He chaired the Federal Quality Institute in 1991, and
168-788: The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services. From 1984 to 1988, he served as Republican chief counsel and staff director of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. He was the Veterans Administration's assistant deputy administrator for congressional and public affairs from 1983 to 1984, following three years as counsel to the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee . On March 15, 2005, President George W. Bush appointed nine members to serve on
196-800: The Vietnam War , commanding a River Patrol Unit in the Mekong Delta . Principi earned his Juris Doctor degree from Seton Hall in 1975, transferred from the Unrestricted Line as a Surface Warfare Officer to the Judge Advocate General Corps (JAGC) and was assigned to the United States Navy 's JAGC office in San Diego . In 1980, he was transferred to Washington as a legislative counsel for
224-493: The 2005 BRAC Commission, with Principi to serve as the chairman. In October 2015, Principi was elected to the board of directors of Imprimis Pharmaceuticals . # denotes acting secretary United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs The United States secretary of veterans affairs is the head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs , the department concerned with veterans' benefits, health care, and national veterans' memorials and cemeteries. The secretary
252-719: The President Ronny Jackson would be nominated as Shulkin's successor. However, Jackson's nomination was withdrawn on April 26, 2018, after allegations surfaced of misconduct and mismanagement while serving in the White House. He was succeeded by Under Secretary of Defense Robert Wilkie . David Shulkin was born at the Fort Sheridan U.S. Army base in Highland Park, Illinois , to Mark Weiss Shulkin and Sonya Lee (née Edelman), where his father
280-420: The U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs in a 100–0 vote, making him the only cabinet nominee by President Trump to have unanimous consent. He was the first non-veteran to hold the position. In this position, Shulkin oversaw the government's second-largest agency, with over 350,000 employees and 1,700 facilities. Shulkin hoped to increase reliance on private health care for routine procedures, like hearing aids, so
308-440: The agency's ethics officials and the public about the nature of the eleven-day trip. The report said that Shulkin's chief of staff, Vivieca Wright Simpson, had altered emails and had made false statements to make it look like Shulkin was receiving a Danish government award to justify his wife accompanying him on the taxpayer-funded trip. The Veterans Administration had paid over $ 4,300 for her airfare. The Inspector General said that
SECTION 10
#1732772844295336-577: The airfare expense was later questioned, Shulkin said he reimbursed the federal government for the cost. He also said that prior to his dismissal the Trump Administration had forbidden him from speaking to the media to respond to the accusations publicly. The VA Inspector General report found no evidence that Shulkin was ever aware of the actions alleged to have been taken by the Chief of Staff. Furthermore, an internal VA Committee that reviewed
364-733: The approval of the undersecretary, assistant secretary or equivalent senior-level official. This effectively stopped all settlements. Lawyer Debra D'Agostino said that this will increase litigation against the VA and taxpayers will be paying for the VA's defense of itself and any illegal actions of its leadership. D'Agostino also said that federal agencies found liable for discrimination or whistleblower retaliation are not penalized as severely as private companies as compensatory damages are limited and there are no punitive damages available. On March 28, 2018, Trump announced on Twitter that Shulkin had been fired and would be replaced by appointee Robert Wilkie in
392-526: The day after his dismissal, Shulkin said that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs has been invited to this conference for decades and that he gave three different lectures at this particular conference. Shulkin reiterated that the personal trips were taken outside the time of the conference was held. He said that the only expense incurred by his wife that was paid by the federal government was for her economy class airfare, which had been approved in advance. When
420-760: The department could focus on its core mission of caring for the wounded. For President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress on February 28, 2017, Shulkin was the designated survivor in the line of succession of the president. In April 2017, Shulkin had every VA hospital and clinic begin publicly posting quality data and wait times. He wanted to provide those with a less than honorable military discharge with free mental health care. In May 2017, behind closed doors, Shulkin asked his VA healthcare directors to get rid of in-house optometry and audiology services to veterans—instead farming out those services to private community care. In early July 2017, Shulkin announced that any settlement with an employee will require
448-519: The editor of Journal of Clinical Outcomes Management and Hospital Physician , and has been on the editorial boards of several journals, including Journal of the American Medical Association . He founded and served as the chairman and CEO of DoctorQuality, Inc., a consumer-oriented information service. Shulkin has written several peer-reviewed journal articles and other professional publications. In 1999, Shulkin started
476-611: The interim. Trump also announced that Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson would be nominated to replace Shulkin. Following his dismissal in March 2018, Shulkin highlighted the political pressure from the Trump White House to dismantle VA healthcare and send veterans to the private sector. In a New York Times editorial, Shulkin warned that "privatization is a political issue aimed at rewarding select people and companies with profits, even if it undermines care for veterans." Much of
504-582: The issue and advocated for his removal in an effort to coerce him to support privatization. Shulkin's removal as head of the VA has renewed concerns among veterans that the Trump administration will privatize VA healthcare. In September 2017, The Washington Post reported that Shulkin spent nearly half his time on a July 2017 international trip to Europe—which was paid for by taxpayers—sightseeing and shopping with his wife, Merle Bari. Shulkin later told The Washington Post that he did "nothing inappropriate" on
532-806: The night shift was providing a lower quality of care. He also was president of Morristown Medical Center and as vice president of Atlantic Health System Accountable Care Organization . He was the first Chief Medical Officer of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital and later at the University of Pennsylvania Health System, Temple University Hospital , and the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital. His other academic positions have included Chairman of Medicine and Vice Dean at Drexel University College of Medicine , and Professor of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine . Shulkin has been
560-485: The overall expense for the trip was at least $ 122,334. The report also said that Shulkin had inappropriately accepted tickets to Wimbledon worth thousands of dollars and had directed an aide to act as a "personal travel concierge" for the trip. The Inspector General referred his concerns about the potential criminality of the actions undertaken by Shulkin's chief of staff to the Department of Justice , which declined to prosecute. In an interview with National Public Radio
588-411: The political push to privatize VA healthcare comes from the political advocacy group Concerned Veterans of America (CVA), which is backed by Charles and David Koch . Privatization of VA healthcare is overwhelmingly opposed by veterans and veteran service organizations (VSO). Political aides assigned to VA, including John Ullyot , Camilo J. Sandoval and Jake Leinenkugel , battled with Shulkin over
SECTION 20
#1732772844295616-1287: The post of secretary is vacant, the deputy secretary or any other person designated by the president serves as acting secretary until the president nominates and the United States Senate confirms a new secretary. Denis McDonough is currently serving as the 11th secretary of veterans affairs since February 9, 2021 under President Joe Biden . No party (2) Democratic (3) Republican (6) Ohio Anthony Principi served as Acting Secretary in his capacity as Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs September 26, 1992 – January 20, 1993. Hershel W. Gober served as Acting Secretary in his capacity as Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs July 13, 1997 – January 2, 1998 and July 25, 2000 – January 20, 2001. West served as Acting Secretary from January 2, 1998 to May 4, 1998. Gordon H. Mansfield served as Acting Secretary in his capacity as Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs October 1 – December 20, 2007. # denotes acting secretary David Shulkin David Jonathon Shulkin (born July 22, 1959)
644-588: The trip, that the trip was taken primarily to attend a Five Eyes conference, and that personal visits to "various historic and other sites in London and in Denmark " were done "on nights, on weekends, the day before the conference started" and were "paid for by me". In February 2018, a report by Michael J. Missal, the Inspector General of Veterans Affairs, concluded that Shulkin's staff had misled both
672-422: The wait 6,000 veterans would die and to get it done in one month, which they then did. On January 11, 2017, Shulkin was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump as United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs . Trump, who had first considered five others, nominated Shulkin after a recommendation by Ambassador David M. Friedman . On February 13, 2017, the United States Senate unanimously confirmed Shulkin as
700-584: Was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania . Shulkin specialized in health care management . He has been described as one of the "high priests" of patient centered care . Shulkin was the President and chief executive officer of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City . While there, Shulkin would walk the wards after midnight after he discovered
728-558: Was an Army psychiatrist. Both of his grandfathers fought in World War I . He received a BA from Hampshire College in 1982, and an MD degree from Medical College of Pennsylvania (which has since merged into Drexel University ) in 1986; he then did his medical internship at Yale School of Medicine , and his residency and fellowship in General Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Presbyterian Medical Center. He
756-649: Was born in the East Bronx on April 16, 1944. He grew up in Teaneck , New Jersey and attended St. Anastasia School there during his younger years. He graduated from Mount Saint Michael Academy in 1962 as the school's top athlete and student council president. In 1967, Principi graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis , Maryland. He first saw active duty aboard the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy . Principi later served in
784-547: Was chairman of the Commission on Servicemembers and Veterans Transition Assistance established by Congress in 1996. Principi served as Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs, VA's second-highest executive position, from March 17, 1989, to September 26, 1992, when he was named Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs by President George H. W. Bush . He served in that position until January 1993. Following that appointment, he served as Republican chief counsel and staff director of
#294705