Fired V.A. Secretary Shulkin Slams Privatization Efforts
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Josh Nathan-Kazis March 29, 2018
In media appearances the day after President Trump announced his firing on Twitter, former Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin decried the efforts of Trump appointees to push privatization at his former department, and described the current atmosphere in Washington as “toxic.”
“In recent months, though, the environment in Washington has turned so toxic, chaotic, disrespectful and subversive that it became impossible for me to accomplish the important work that our veterans need and deserve,” Shulkin wrote in the New York Times.
And on NPR, Shulkin complained that “there are many political appointees in the VA that believe that we are moving in the wrong direction or weren’t moving fast enough toward privatizing the VA.”
Shulkin was at the center of a controversy last year over his use of federal funds to pay for his wife’s flight to Europe last year to accompany him on an official trip. Shulkin told NPR that the White House had kept him from defending himself, alleging they had done so for political ends.
“I was not allowed to put up an official statement or to even respond to this by the White House,” he said in the NPR interview. “I think this was really just being used in a political context to try to make sure that I wasn’t as effective as a leader moving forward.”
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
