In a nice bipartisan show yesterday, President Trump signed a bill that will hopefully allow for actual reforms to begin at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Responding to an Obama-era scandal in which veterans died waiting for doctor’s appointments, Mr. Trump said the Department of Veterans Affairs Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 will “make sure that the scandal we suffered so recently never, ever happens again.”
“What happened was a national disgrace, and yet some of the employees involved remained on the payrolls,” Mr. Trump said. “Our veterans have fulfilled their duty to this nation, and now we must fulfill our duty to them.”
The president signed the bill into law in the East Room, at a White House ceremony attended by dozens of veterans, family members and lawmakers.

The new law provides protection for whistleblowers who expose the crimes and faults in the VA system, and allows current VA Secretary David Shulkin (and future VA secretaries) the ability to fire people, no matter their current position. The new law also had overwhelming bipartisan support, passing unanimously in the Senate on a voice vote, and in the House by a vote of 368-55.

Considering the absolute level of corruption and fraud, and who was allowed to keep their jobs after overwhelming proof of dereliction of duty, this action was way overdue. The bipartisan support it earned now shows how quickly it could have been done if the previous president had bothered to care and told Democrats to move, instead of letting them block legislation. Now, VA Secretary Shulkin has the muscle to get some real reforms done. He can start by firing these two officials who pled the Fifth during Congressional testimony – and still kept their jobs. And that would just be the start. There’s a long way to go before the VA is actually meeting its goals of providing the care it promised to veterans who depend on it.