Posted on 10/31/2015 3:57:50 PM PDT by McGruff
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made a new pitch Saturday to veterans, promising them that he'll take on the "corrupt" and incompetent" Department of Veterans Affairs.
Trump told a crowd of supporters in front of the U.S.S. Wisconsin in Norfolk, Va., that the department is mismanaged and "not efficient."
"We're going to replace them with more effective ones to get our veterans working, which is what they want to do," Trump said. "We're going to transform the VA to meet the needs of the current veterans. Exposing and addressing the VA's inefficiencies and shortcomings will be rewarded, not punished. We're going to find out why it's going bad and we're going to fix it."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Make the VA GA.
God Bless DONALD TRUMP.
Will he be able to take out the Fed employee unions and the department of injustice that protects the VA establishment?
He's dealt with corrupt unions his whole adult life.
If there's anyone who knows how to deal with corrupt bureaucrats to get what you want, it's Donald Trump.
I think he’s going to attack the VA bureaucracy rather than the public sector union affiliated with it. I think he can convince the unions that maintaining the status quo on pay and benefits is in their best interests. I.E don’t expect cost of living adjustments for 3 to 4 years.
Another example where Trump’s ability to identify and focus on a key issue is unmatched.
To Donald J Trump,
The VA has a wonderful program with the initials MHICAM. I have no knowledge of how it operates in all areas. However, my experience with a relative is that they have been fantastic.
If I need the relative checked on or taken places such as grocery shopping or even just to go shopping at the mall to buy a coat - they are available.
They take the Veterans on excursions. They have parties. They have life classes in how to cope and adjust and budget and how to survive day to day existence. They provide a lot of support.
I have had to call them more than once when my relative was off the rails to have them go check on what was happening and try to calm the situation.
I hope you see to it that the program gets the funding and support it needs in all areas of the United States.
Reagan did w/ PATCO
Yes, just sign an executive order undoing JFK's Fed Employee Collective Barganing EO and bye bye union.
The problem with the VA is it is a creature of the Washington establishment. How often has it been said throw good money after bad. Or make it a cabinet level agency and it will get attention. Well neither really helps. The cabinet hasn’t gotten the attention it needs since it was formed. More money for more bureaucracy in an agency with inept leadership doesn’t solve anything. And worse, since it was made a cabinet agency, DoD has just thrown its problems at the VA. DoD has never thought it their issue to take care of veterans, or to come up with solutions to prevent the reasons for needing the VA in the first place.
Vietnam Veteran and Former Chicago Cop Beaten in Suburban Parking Lot
Trump will win this one...
Shouldn’t be it’s own Cabinet department, cut down the bureaucracy and transfer it to DOD or HHS.
Reagan creating the VA and giving it a cabinet rank was one of the few issues I have with his presidency, it grew the federal government immensely under his watch and seems to go against his own self-declared philosophy.
Sadly, it would be political suicide today if ANY politician proposed eliminating the VA and transferring its functions to another Dept. (even though I don't think Veterans benefits/treatment would be cut at all, and actually might improve drastically).
Well the VA (Veterans Administration) existed before Reagan upgraded it but yeah, that was one of his worse moves. Few votes were cast against it, easily enough for veto override if he had opposed it.
You’re right that veterans group would throw a hissy fit about the “diss” if you got rid of it, which is a shame.
I think of positions like VA Sec and HUD Sec sitting in on Cabinet meetings about Syria and the like, just silly.
I’d ax a bunch of departments, streamline things. Commerce does what? I know they have the Census Bureau, that can be transfered elsewhere or be an independent agency. Education, give HHS the student loans and get rid of the rest. HUD, see ya. Energy, subsumed into Interior along with the EPA, maybe Agriculture too, cut the farm subsidies.
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