Who Is The Head Of The Department Of Veterans Affairs

Sports Programs / Special Events

Having fun together by participating in adaptive sports improves health, creates new friends, and elevates the quality of life. Many sports opportunities are available to veterans of all ages and abilities. To get started, visit the “National Veterans Sports Programs and Special Events” website and speak with your VA clinical team about getting involved.

Small And Disadvantaged Business Utilization

The Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization is the Departments principal liaison to the Small Business Administration , the Department of Commerce, the General Services Administration , and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy for matters dealing with small and disadvantaged business activities. OSDBUs mission is to enable Veterans to gain access to economic opportunity by leveraging the federal procurement system and expanding participation of procurement-ready small businesses.

Us Department Of Veterans Affairs

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is a United States executive department formed in 1989 to, in President Abraham Lincoln’s words, “care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.” The department stems from the Veterans Administration formed in 1930.

The department oversees the following agencies: the National Cemetery Administration, the Veterans Benefits Administration, and the Veterans Health Administration.

Denis McDonough is the secretary of veterans affairs. The Senate confirmed his nomination on February 8, 2021, by a vote of 87-7. He is the second non-veteran to hold the office. to learn more about his confirmation process.

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Strategic Goals & Objectives

Agencies establish a variety of organizational goals to drive progress toward key outcomes for the American people. Long-term strategic goals articulate clear statements of what the agency wants to achieve to advance its mission and address relevant national problems, needs, challenges and opportunities. Strategic objectives define the outcome or management impact the agency is trying to achieve, and also include the agency’s role. Each strategic objective is tracked through a suite of performance goals, indicators and other evidence..

Presidential Succession By Vice Presidents

Nine vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency intra-term, eight due to the president’s death, and one due to the president’s resignation from office.

Additionally, three vice presidents have temporarily assumed the powers and duties of the presidency as acting president, as authorized by Section 3 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment: did so once, on July 13, 1985 did so twice, on June 29, 2002 and again on July 21, 2007 and did so on November 19, 2021.

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United States Secretary Of Veterans Affairs

The United States secretary of veterans affairs is the head of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, the department concerned with veterans’ benefits, health care, and national veterans’ memorials and cemeteries. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and second to last at sixteenth in the line of succession to the presidency . Until the appointment of David Shulkin in 2017, all appointees and acting appointees to the post were United States military veterans, but that is not a requirement to fill the position.

When the post of Secretary is vacant, the United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs or any other person designated by the President serves as Acting Secretary until the President nominates and the United States Senate confirms a new Secretary.

Denis McDonough is currently serving as the 11th secretary of veterans affairs since February 9, 2021 under President Joe Biden.

What Is The Pact Act

President Joe Biden signed the “Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics” bill also known as the PACT Act on Aug. 10. The legislation will fund research and benefits for as many as 3.5 million veterans who were exposed to toxic substances during service.

The U.S. military often burned waste in large pits in Iraq and Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, including plastic, rubber, chemicals, paint and medical and human waste.

In addition to immediate health issues, including coughing or difficulty breathing, thousands of veterans say the burn pits caused ongoing, severe illnesses after their deployment.

More:Biden signs ‘long overdue’ PACT Act to help veterans exposed to toxic burn pits

Before the bill’s passage, veterans would need to prove that burn pits caused their illness before they could access benefits.

Now, 23 medical conditions including several cancers and respiratory illnesses will not require proof of connection to service. The bill also includes new provisions for veterans exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam.

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Prioritizing The Women And Lgbtq People Who Serve In The Military

The VA must also prioritize providing women and LGBTQ service members equal access to earned benefits, as well as ending sexual harassment against them. Women are the fastest-growing segment of the veteran population. Since 2000, the number of women in the military has grown from 63,000 to 473,000an increase of 310,000, or almost 300 percent25and the number of women using VA health care has also tripled since then, growing from 160,000 to 475,000.26 Women now represent 16 percent of the current U.S. military force. LGBT personnel, meanwhile, are estimated to make up 6.1 percent27 of service members. A 2020 GAO report28 found that the VAs inconsistent collection of sexual orientation and gender identity data has limited its ability to assess health outcomes for LGBT veterans.

Despite all the indispensable services that women in uniform deliver to America, a great deal of those women have been subject to sexual assault,29 and many have chosen not to reenlist30 as a result. In April 2021, the VA took a step31 in the right direction to improve care for women and LGBTQ veterans, as well as the approximately 25 percent of veterans who are people of color, by committing to review its existing policies with an eye toward making them more inclusiveand designing and implementing more inclusive policies going forward.

Calculation Of Pay Rate

Many political appointees have had their pay rate frozen at lower levels. According to § 5318, at the beginning of the first pay period for any position under the Executive Schedule, the amount of pay will be adjusted and rounded to the nearest multiple of US$100. If this amount is found to be midway between multiples of $100, then it will be rounded to the next highest multiple of $100.

Section 738 of division E of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 , continued the freeze on the payable pay rates for certain senior political officials at 2013 levels through January 5, 2019. The failure to enact new appropriations legislation may allow the freeze to expire. However, the officially established and posted pay rates for 2018 are in effect and used for determining pay for other employees. For more information, please see Compensation Policy Memorandum 2018-08 at .

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Contemporary Issues And Concerns

In 2003, the suggested that the current law has “at least seven significant issues … that warrant attention,” specifically:

Helping Veterans Transition Into Civilian Society

The VA must work more effectively with the Department of Defense to improve the policies and systems that can help military people transition into civilian society. The VA and DOD should work to increase veterans understanding and access to the VAs health care, educational, and housing benefits that are available to them. The departments should also increase awareness of other resources that are available to veterans upon leaving the service to help them reenter civilian life. They can do this through public information campaigns, including making phone calls to newly separated veterans. They should also continue to increase resources that are available for veterans. As Sen. John Tester , the new chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs put it in an interview with Military Times, We do a great job making civilians into warriors. But we dont do as good a job making warriors into civilians.36

Moreover, the VA should quickly crack down on for-profit colleges, many of which exploit the 90/10 loophole37 that allows them to count veterans benefits toward the 10 percent of funding that they must receive from the private sector in order to qualify for federal loans and grants such as the GI Bill. In addition, the VA should cut off GI Bill funding for schools facing legal or punitive actions from the government for using erroneous, deceptive, or misleading ads.

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Who Is In Charge At The Department Of Veterans Affairs

WASHINGTON After a week of scandal and internal turmoil at the Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans groups and agency employees enter this work week wondering exactly who is in charge of the nearly $200 billion bureaucracy.

Is it VA Secretary David Shulkin, who in the last few days saw his reputation tarnished by a withering inspector general report, his top deputy threatened by political rivals, and his chief of staff abruptly resign?

Is it a group of White House insiders who on Friday installed a new No. 3 at the department and took over official messaging for VA, removing Shulkins statements from online sites and replacing them with one that doesnt even mention the secretary?

Or is it someone else within President Donald Trumps administration, which for the last week has ignored press questions on the embattled department while they deal with other controversies in the West Wing?

Right now it doesnt look like anyone is in charge, said Paul Rieckhoff, chief executive officer of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. It looks like chaos. Its brutal political trench warfare, and veterans are caught in the middle.

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Since Wednesday, the only clear answer about the future of VA leadership is that the department no longer enjoys the drama-free reputation it had in 2017, when Trump repeatedly highlighted VA reforms as one of the most successful points of his presidency.

Power struggle

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Fallout continues

Secretary Walter Gaskinof The North Carolina Department Of Military & Veterans Affairs

LtGen Walter Gaskin is currently serving as the Secretary for the North Carolina Department of Military & Veterans Affairs.

Lieutenant General Gaskin has served on the North Carolina Military Affairs Commission. From 2010 until his retirement from the United States Marine Corps in 2013, LtGen Gaskin served as the Deputy Chairman of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Military Committee in Brussels, Belgium, providing strategic military counsel on operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya to NATOs Secretary General and North Atlantic Council.

LtGen Gaskin also served as the Commanding General of the 2d Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, NC from June 2006 until July 2008. In addition to this role, he simultaneously served as the Commanding General of II Marine Expeditionary Force . During this tour, LtGen Gaskin led II MEF during its year-long deployment to Al Anbar Province, Iraq as the Commanding General of Multinational Forces-West.

Gaskin also served with 3rd Force Service Support Group 3rd Marine Division in Okinawa, Japan and with Combined Forces Command C/J-3, Seoul, South Korea as the Head of Ground Forces Branch.

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Expanding Veterans Access To Disability Benefits

Secretary McDonough must also work to reduce the VAs massive backlog17 of compensation and pension exams, which a veteran must receive in order to be granted disability benefits. Many exams have been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic: As of March 2021, 357,000 exam requests were pending. This is nearly three times the amount of exams that were pending in February 2020. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office ,18 VA leaders have not yet developed a clear long-term plan to address the issue.

Secretary Of Veterans Affairs

The Honorable Denis Richard McDonough was nominated by President Biden to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Mr. McDonoughâs nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 8th, 2021, and he was sworn in the following day as the 11th Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

On January 27, 2021, during his confirmation hearing, Secretary McDonough testified to Congress, âI will work tirelessly to build and restore VA’s trust as the premier agency for ensuring the well-being of Americaâs Veterans. After all, there is no more sacred obligation nor noble undertaking than to uphold our promises to our Veterans, whether they came home decades ago or days ago.â

Secretary McDonough served in the Obama Administration as the 26th White House Chief of Staff from February 2013 to January 2017. In that role, Mr. McDonough managed the White House staff and worked across the cabinet to advance the Obama-Biden agenda, confronted management issues facing the federal government, and devised and enforced goals, plans, and performance standards to preserve the Obama-Biden Administrationâs reputation for effective, ethical operations.

Before his eight-year tenure in the White House, Secretary McDonough served in senior leadership and policymaking positions in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Professional Staff Member on the International Relations Committee and in the U.S. Senate for Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Senator Ken Salazar.

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How Can Veterans File Disability Claims

McDonough directed veterans to VA.gov/PACT to file a claim under the PACT Act.

The bill redefines many conditions as “presumptive” meaning the department will automatically consider those conditions a result of military service. A full list of presumptive conditions is available at VA.gov/PACT.

Veterans who have previously been denied benefits for these new presumptive conditions may file a supplemental claim, asking the department to reconsider.

Slowing The Privatization Of Veterans Health Care

Secretary McDonough must balance veterans growing use of private health care with spending funds to maintain the VAs medical facilities and slow down health care privatization. The Veterans Access to Care through Choice, Accountability, and Transparency Act of 2014 and the Mission Act of 201821 relaxed rules that made it difficult for veterans to receive routine or specialty care outside the VA system. Under the current system, veterans can choose to receive routine care from a non-VA doctor if they would have to wait more than 20 days or drive more than 30 minutes for a primary or mental health appointment at a VA facility. For specialty care, the current rules are 20 days and 60 minutes. As a result, Secretary McDonoughs predecessor, Robert Wilkie, encouraged what became a significant increase in the past two years of the Trump administration in patients receiving22 health care through the VAs network of private providers.

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Ambiguities Regarding Succession And Inability

Although the Presidential Succession Clause in Article II of the Constitution clearly provided for the vice president to take over the “powers and duties” of the presidency in the event of a president’s removal, death, resignation, or inability, left unclear was whether the vice president became president of the United States or simply as president in a case of succession. Some historians, including and , have argued that the framers’ intention was that the vice president would remain vice president while executing the powers and duties of the presidency until a new president could be elected.

The hypothetical debate about whether the office or merely the powers of the office devolve upon a vice president who succeeds to the presidency between elections became an urgent constitutional issue in 1841, when President William Henry Harrison died in office, only 31 days into his term. Vice President claimed a constitutional mandate to carry out the full powers and duties of the presidency, asserting he was the president and not merely a temporary acting president, by taking the .