AP FACT CHECK: Trump’s pledge to vets on private care lags
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is holding out the promise of better health care for veterans through an imminent expansion of private-sector services outside the Department of Veterans Affairs system. The problem: His campaign priority remains deadlocked in Congress as his VA secretary struggles with rebellion inside the agency.
During the presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly pledged to fix the VA by expanding access to private doctors and firing bad employees, criticizing the department as “the most corrupt.” Last year, Trump promised to triple the number of veterans “seeing the doctor of their choice.”
But the plan remains in limbo after lawmakers declined this week to include it in a spending bill.
Meanwhile, VA Secretary David Shulkin, under investigation by VA’s internal watchdog for possible spending abuses, didn’t tell the full story when he insisted to Congress that Trump’s proposed budget would give that office all “the staffing they need.”