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President Donald Trump's pick to lead Veterans Affairs promised Wednesday to "shake up complacency" at the struggling department by expanding private care to better meet the growing health needs of veterans, but he rejected a wholesale dismantling of VA. Robert Wilkie, currently serving as a Pentagon undersecretary, stressed the VA must work faster and better to address a rapidly growing population of veterans. He said he will not tolerate continued problems of long waits and bureaucratic delays and will strive to quickly implement a newly signed law to ease access to private health care providers. (6/27)

Senate lawmakers told Robert Wilkie on Wednesday that he will face a workforce beset by poor morale if he is confirmed to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, and that he must fix the problem if he is to stabilize the troubled agency. “Of all the challenges we have at VA, morale may be the biggest problem,” Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) told Wilkie during the 90-minute confirmation hearing, where the senior Pentagon official pledged to “shake up complacency” at the second-largest federal department and implement a health-care overhaul that would expand private care for veterans. (Rein, 6/27)

Robert Wilkie, who previously has been confirmed by the Senate for other posts, is considered likely to win approval following a largely courteous hearing, where he stressed the need to improve the way the VA treats veterans. “The prime directive is customer service,” he said. “When an American veteran comes to the VA it is not up to him to employ a team of lawyers to get VA to say, ‘Yes.’” Mr. Wilkie talked about his past, including his father, who he said was wounded as a military service member in Vietnam, instilling in Mr. Wilkie a respect for wounded veterans and the VA. (Kesling, 6/27)

President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs on Wednesday said he doesn't believe in privatizing the agency and pledged to oppose privatization efforts. "My commitment to you is I will oppose efforts to privatize," even if it runs counter to the White House agenda, Robert Wilkie told a Senate panel. Under questioning from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Wilkie said he would keep the VA "central" to the care of veterans, but indicated there can be a balance. (Weixel, 6/27)

Wilkie said that reducing wait times for veterans, which often extend beyond 30 days, would be among his top priorities. But he said it could be several years before the department’s appointment system can be overhauled. “The 30 days is unacceptable,” Wilkie said at his confirmation hearing before the Veterans' Affairs Committee. (Kelley, 6/27)

The House Veterans Affairs Health Subcommittee advanced seven bills Wednesday aimed at increasing the Department of Veterans Affairs workforce and improving VA patient care.The subcommittee approved all seven bills by voice vote. They now head to the full committee. The measures were debated at a subcommittee hearing earlier this month, where many ran into opposition from the VA and veterans service organizations over technical provisions, or because they viewed them as unnecessary. Committee members modified the bills based on that feedback. (Clason, 6/27)

The water fountains and ice makers have been shut off at the Chalmers P. Wylie VA Ambulatory Care Center in Whitehall until tests results show whether the water there was the source of the Legionnaires’ disease contracted by two veterans. Both veterans visited the clinic’s primary-care area sometime since May 28, VA spokesman Carl Higginbotham said Wednesday. (Zachariah, 6/27)