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Brown Says the VA Debacle Has Hurt Vets

Sherrod Brown says the investment was justified from the 1940s, on.
JO INGLES
/
STATEHOUSE NEWS BUREAU
Sherrod Brown says the investment was justified from the 1940s, on.

Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown says the Trump administration cost the VA and veterans valuable time through the firing of former VA Secretary David Shulkin and botched attempt to name his replacement, Dr. Ronny Jackson.  

Brown on VA moves

“It’s leaderless now, there’s a morale problem. There is anxiety in the work force. Veterans don’t know what’s going to happen. There are 9 million veterans affected and government’s got to do its job here. The White House has to do its job and the Senate has to do its job.”

Brown, a Democrat, sits on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. Before Jackson withdrew his nomination, Brown had planned to push him on GOP efforts to privatize veterans’ heathcare and Jackson’s lack of experience running an agency.

Jackson, who has been White House physician for Presidents Bush, Obama and Trump, withdrew his nomination this morning amid a flurry of allegations of personal misconduct.  Brown acknowledged the Obama administration may have missed important clues about Jackson’s fitness.

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M.L. Schultze
M.L. Schultze came to WKSU as news director in July 2007 after 25 years at The Repository in Canton, where she was managing editor for nearly a decade. She’s now the digital editor and an award-winning reporter and analyst who has appeared on NPR, Here and Now and the TakeAway, as well as being a regular panelist on Ideas, the WVIZ public television's reporter roundtable.