HONORING OUR VETERANS’ SERVICE: President Donald J. Trump is committed to honoring our veterans’ service by ensuring they receive the quality care they have earned.
- President Donald J. Trump is delivering remarks to Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) national convention today in Kansas City, Missouri.
- President Trump’s remarks come just a day after the Senate voted to confirm Robert Wilkie as the new Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
- After he is sworn in as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Wilkie will carry on the Trump Administration’s commitment to provide our veterans with access to the quality care that they have earned through their service and sacrifice for our country.
TRANSFORMING VETERANS CARE: President Trump signed the VA MISSION Act into law, enacting sweeping reforms to improve and modernize veterans care.
- In June 2018, President Trump signed the VA MISSION Act into law, enacting some of the most substantial reforms of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in a generation.
- Among many critical reforms, the VA MISSION Act included provisions to:
- Consolidate and strengthen community care programs into a single program
- Provide needed funding for the existing Veterans Choice Program
- Expand eligibility for the Family Caregivers Program
- Give veterans access to walk-in care
- Strengthen VA’s ability to recruit and retain quality healthcare professionals
- Enable the VA to modernize its assets and infrastructure
- The new Veterans Community Care Program will give veterans better access to the care they need and improve their choice of providers.
PROMOTING ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY: President Trump continues to deliver on his pledge to strengthen accountability and transparency at the VA.
- President Trump’s Administration will continue to hold VA employees accountable for misconduct and poor performance.
- In June 2017, President Trump signed the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act into law, making it easier to discipline bad actors, including senior executives.
- The legislation also strengthened protection for individuals who come forward and identify problems occurring within the VA.
- The President directed the VA to form the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection, which has increased transparency by publishing reports on accountability actions.
- From the start of the Trump Administration through the end of May 2018, the VA took more than 3,200 accountability actions, which include removals, suspensions, and demotions.
- The VA’s accountability actions during that time include more than 2,500 removals.