For the past 8 years, President Obama’s Veterans Administration has treated our veterans terribly, providing them with low-quality health care and making them wait months to see a doctor.
Well, one Republican has made it his mission to help reform the VA and has said he would happily serve in the Trump administration if asked.
Congressman Jeff Miller of Florida, who chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, has just announced he’s open to serving as the head of the VA if asked by Trump.
Speaking to Politico, Miller said he “would look at it very seriously. I mean, that would be a discussion that anybody would have with the next commander-in-chief.”
Miller is retiring from Congress at the end of the year so taking a job within the Trump administration could be a perfect fit for the Republican, but as of right now he has had no formal talks with Trump, calling the talk of him leading the VA merely “organic.”
Despite having yet met with Trump, Miller stressed that he “will help Trump in any way that he sees…a way for me to help. I have not been contacted. To my knowledge I haven’t been vetted.”
Miller, along with most Republicans, has been highly critical of the Obama administration’s handling of the VA, and as chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee has made it his mission to reform the agency:
“There are so many things that need to change at the department that people have been resistant to because it’s the way it’s always been done,” Miller said. “Donald Trump comes with a totally clean slate, not bound by any preconceived notions as to what works, what doesn’t work.”
In response to the 2014 scandal over wait times to see VA doctors and specialists, which resulted in the resignation of then-Sec. Eric Shinseki, Miller negotiated — along with his Senate counterpart Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — a $10 billion emergency funding package to allow veterans facing lengthy delays for medical appointments or who live long distances from a VA facility to obtain private healthcare services.
Miller has proposed expanding that initiative, known as the Choice Program, so that any veteran can seek medical treatment outside the VA health system. Trump included an expansion of medical choice in his July plan.
Who do you think Trump should appoint to the VA? Would Congressman Miller be a good fit for the agency? Share your thoughts with us below!