On December 8, 2008, U.S.
President Barack Obama announced he
would nominate retired U.S. Army general, Eric Shinseki, to be the 7th Secretary
of Veterans Affairs. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on January 20, 2009. General Shinseki resigned as Secretary of
Veterans Affairs on May 30, 2014, making deputy secretary Sloan Gibson the
acting secretary. On June 29, 2014, President Obama nominated Robert A. McDonald to serve as VA secretary. The United States
Senate confirmed McDonald on July 29, 2014.
How does Eric Shinseki differ from Barack
Obama? Eric K.
Shinseki was born on Nov. 28, 1942, in Lihue, which is located on the Hawaiian
island of Kauai.
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2015 – Sen. Bernie
Sanders (I-Vt.) was honored tonight with the Veterans of Foreign Wars
prestigious Congressional Award.
At a ceremony in the Senate’s Kennedy
Caucus Room, Sanders said he was “extremely honored” by the award presented for his eight years of service on the
Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, including his time as the panel’s chairman during the last session of
Congress. He remains a senior member of the committee.
VFW National Commander John Stroud noted
that Sanders played a leading role in winning passage last year of major
legislation to improve health care services at the Department of Veterans
Affairs.
The nation’s largest service organization
of combat veterans said Sanders “has been a commanding voice” fighting to
preserve benefits for disabled veterans, for the proper care and treatment of
women veterans, homeless veterans, for better employment opportunities and
improved access to mental health programs. The VFW also lauded Sanders for
increased congressional oversight that resulted in improved claims processing
by the VA.
“It is no understatement to say that Sen.
Sanders has taken care of wounded, ill and injured veterans and their surviving
family members,” said the VFW’s Stroud. “When
the VA imploded last year, he was the lead negotiator for the Veterans
Access, Choice and Accountability Act, which the president signed into law last
summer,” he added.
“The VA still has an uphill climb to fix
what’s broken, to hold employees appropriately accountable, and to restore the
faith of veterans in their VA, but veterans everywhere should be proud and
comforted to know that this United States senator has their back in Congress.”
Lewis William
Walt where are you when we need you?
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