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Five hundred and forty-eight Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) employees have been terminated since President Donald Trump took office, indicating that his campaign pledge to clean up “probably the most incompetently run agency in the United States” by relentlessly putting his TV catch phrase “you’re fired” into action was more than just empty rhetoric. Another 200 VA workers were suspended and 33 demoted, according to data newly published by the department as part of VA Secretary David Shulkin’s commitment to greater transparency. Those disciplined include 22 senior leaders, more than 70 nurses, 14 police officers, and 25 physicians. Also disciplined...

Department of Veterans Affairs officials have fired more than 500 misbehaving employees since January, according to data posted online Friday. VA Secretary David Shulkin touted his agency's decision to publish its efforts to hold VA employees accountable, unveiling new requirements for updating the public on personnel actions. "Veterans and taxpayers have a right to know what we're doing to hold our employees accountable and make our personnel actions transparent," Shulkin said in a statement. "Posting this information online for all to see, and updating it weekly, will do just that."

Sorry, my iPad won't copy anymore.

President Trump on Friday signed Veterans Affairs reform legislation meant to protect whistleblowers while making it easier to fire problematic employees at the department. The Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act passed by Congress earlier this month streamlines the process to remove, demote, or suspend VA employees for poor performance or misconduct. In addition, it authorizes the VA secretary to recoup any bonuses awarded to employees who have acted improperly. “Veterans have fulfilled their duty to this nation and now, we must fulfill our duty to them,” Trump said. “So to every veteran who is here with...

A few months back, I wrote an article for Townhall.com about the Veterans Administration. In light of Memorial Day, I thought it would be a great idea to revisit the VA and some of the developments that have transpired since then. At first, I was not a fan of Secretary David Shulkin. One of three Trump appointees that I questioned, I felt he had made it a point to be somewhat of a career politician. I believed what we needed in that position was not an Obama-holdover appointee, but a businessman who specialized in turning around organizations. I have to...

A few days ago, President Trump followed through on yet another one of his plethora of commitments to the nation by signing an executive order to engender a new office devoted to shielding whistleblowers at the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Commander in Chief made it clear that the office would work tirelessly to provide veterans with much needed healthcare. America will no longer disappoint the men and women who have fought tirelessly to protect this country. The President made it very clear that veterans will receive exceptional care and those who report problems at the Veterans Affairs office shall...

(Great video of President Trump signing the long awaited veterans choice extension act. As noted in the Video, more to come next Thursday).

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump announced his pick for VA Secretary, the final missing piece of his cabinet. Trump has picked David Shulkin, the current Under Secretary for Health for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. If Shulkin is confirmed, he will be the first non-veteran to serve as VA Secretary. Shulkin has served as undersecretary since June 2015. He was previously was the chief executive of many hospital systems.

Veterans' Health: News headlines this week screamed about how President-elect Trump is considering a plan to partially privatize the Veterans Health Administration. Did nobody read his campaign website during the election? In July, Trump issued his 10-point plan to fix the VA. Number 10 on the list: "Mr. Trump will ensure every veteran has the choice to seek care at the VA or at a private service provider of their own choice. Under a Trump Administration, no veteran will die waiting for service. These days are over starting January 2017." At the time, we wrote that, while Trump's plan wasn't...

President-elect Donald Trump met with health care executives on Wednesday to begin a serious reform of the Department of Veterans Affairs. “I’ve been saying we have to take care of our vets,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago after the meetings. “We are working on something to make it great for our veterans, because they are treated very, very unfairly.” Trump met with John Noseworthy, the President and CEO of Mayo Clinic, Paul Rothman, the CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine as well as Dr. Bruce Moskowitz, Dr. David Torchiana of Partners HealthCare and Toby Cosgrove of Cleveland Clinic, according to the...

President-elect Donald Trump is considering moving the Department of Veterans Affairs toward privatization, a transition team official said Wednesday, a policy decision major veterans’ groups have said they would oppose.

President-elect Donald Trump was expected to make his choice for Veterans Affairs Secretary known, possibly today, amid controversy among veterans service organizations over the pick and the direction of the $180 billion-a-year cabinet agency. Trump has been unpredictable during the transition but members of his transition team said earlier this week that the president-elect would be announcing more appointments before Christmas and sources in the veterans community said the VA choice could come Friday. At Mar-a-Lago, Trump's palatial Florida estate and winter retreat, the President-elect met Tuesday with Dr. Delos "Toby" Cosgrove, president and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, who...

Donald Trump’s flair for connecting with veterans won him an overwhelming share of their votes, but the durability of the alliance is already being tested as Trump’s search for a Veterans Affairs secretary veers in a direction that has alarmed some of America’s most influential retired soldiers. Under pressure from conservative activists, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and organizations funded by the Koch Brothers, Trump is contemplating choosing an agency chief who would upend the entire veterans healthcare system. That would come over the protest of the country’s major veterans groups. An appointment like that could prove an early...

The Department of Veterans Affairs has dropped plans to start covering gender transition surgery for veterans amid concerns about costs. The proposed rule change that would have allowed the VA to pay for such surgeries was withdrawn from the Fall 2016 Unified Agenda, a biannual publication of proposed regulation changes that was due Monday. “VA has been and will continue to explore a regulatory change that would allow VA to perform gender alteration surgery and a change in the medical benefits package, when appropriated funding is available,” the VA said in a statement Monday. VA officials sent a letter dated...

Donald Trump vowed Thursday to “rebuild our depleted military” and ensure America’s soldiers are the best-equipped in the world as he addressed the American Legion's annual convention – and sought to rebut Hillary Clinton’s suggestion to the same crowd a day earlier that he doesn’t believe America is “exceptional.” Kicking off the address in Cincinnati, Ohio, by invoking his campaign slogan, “America First,” Trump tried to settle any doubts about his support for the Armed Forces. He called for a state-of-the-art missile defense, a “total reform” of the Veterans Affairs Department and a policy of “peace through strength.” “Nobody will...

I have to applaud Al Baldasaro, a marine veteran for what he just said. Donald Trump raised $5.6M dollars for the veterans and the media continued to lie and spread negative information. Trump took care of that today and Al called out the media!

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Well, that's what you've all wanted. That's what everybody's been asking for I don't know how long. That was a press conference. That was a press conference. That was the kind of press conference Republicans voters have been dying to see for who knows how many years. Greetings, my friends. Great to have you here, and great to be back. A short busy broadcast week. Rush Limbaugh back at it. It is 800-282-2882 if you want to be on the program; the email address, ElRushbo@eibnet.com. Say what you will about Donald Trump -- how many years have...

Donald Trump fired back Tuesday at reports questioning his fundraising haul from a high-profile veterans event in January, releasing an extensive list of charities he said received the donations -- and slamming the media for questioning him. During a press conference at Trump Tower, the presumptive Republican nominee said he's raised $5.6 million and more is coming in. He rattled off the list of charities and the amounts they received, while taking scathing and sometimes-personal shots at the media for pressuring him to disclose the information. “I have never received such bad publicity for doing such a good job,” Trump...

At a press conference at Trump Tower in NYC, where Trump was providing the press with a breakdown of how the funds he raised for Veterans was distributed, Donald Trump called out an ABC News Reporter. VIDEO

I've not been impressed by Trumps tactics and ridicule and don't care for some positions. HOWEVER today's press conference and Trump's handling of the press is changing my mind. He's doing extremely well and the press is being leveled for the most part. Credit given where credit due. Go Trump.