Questions mount as Trump loses more VA secretary candidates
Donald Trump’s top two picks to become the next Veterans Affairs secretary abruptly withdrew their names over the weekend, leaving a shrinking list of candidates for the Cabinet post and a host of uncertainty surrounding the next administration’s ambitious reform plans.
On Saturday, Florida businessman Luis Quinonez announced he would not pursue the job due to health issues. Within hours, Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove also removed himself from consideration, marking the second time in three years the well-known health care executive has turned down such an offer.
Both men had met with the president-elect several times about overseeing the agency, which employs about 365,000 people and has an annual budget nearing $180 billion. Trump announced nominees to lead nearly every other major government department before the end of last year.
The president-elect has described the current department as broken and vowed to massively expand private care options for veterans, root out waste within veterans programs and restore public confidence in a department still reeling from the 2014 wait times scandal.
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/trump-va-secretary-candidates-turmoil
