{"id":39634,"date":"2018-04-12T17:39:02","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T17:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/04\/12\/veterans-advocates-honor-fired-va-secretary-at-private-dc-event\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:05:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:05:48","slug":"veterans-advocates-honor-fired-va-secretary-at-private-dc-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/04\/12\/veterans-advocates-honor-fired-va-secretary-at-private-dc-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans advocates honor fired VA secretary at private DC event"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 Leaders from the country\u2019s largest veterans groups on Wednesday held a private event to honor fired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/03\/29\/outgoing-va-secretary-shulkin-lashes-out-at-white-house-officials-looking-to-privatize-veterans-care\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin<\/a>, indicating a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/03\/28\/trumps-surprise-pick-for-the-next-va-secretary-raises-questions\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">growing rift<\/a> between the administration and some of the most prominent advocates for the veterans community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The event, held at the Disabled American Veterans headquarters in town, was a chance for the groups to thank Shulkin for his 13 months leading the department and praise his \u201cbipartisan\u201d approach to the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The evening ceremony also honored Shulkin\u2019s former chief of staff, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/02\/16\/va-chief-of-staff-resigns-amid-secretarys-travel-scandal\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">Vivieca Wright Simpson<\/a>, who abruptly retired in February amid allegations she doctored internal emails so the department would pay for Shulkin\u2019s wife to accompany him on an overseas trip last summer. Veterans groups praised her 32 years of work in VA, much of it interacting with them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shulkin\u2019s remarks at the event were more cordial that others he has given <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/03\/28\/shulkin-out-trump-fires-va-secretary-after-weeks-of-controversy\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">since President Donald Trump dismissed him over Twitter last month<\/a>. White House officials said his handling of the travel scandal had become a distraction, but Shulkin in numerous media appearances has said he was forced out of office by political operatives working to privatize veterans health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The former secretary made no mention of the issue in his brief remarks, instead saying only that he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/03\/30\/shulkin-to-military-times-ill-keep-speaking-out-against-va-injustices\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">plans to continue being an advocate on veterans issues<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI know that you in this room and our leadership is going to do the right thing for veterans,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will continue to make progress and continue to honor our veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2018\/04\/11\/vets-groups-and-lawmakers-say-theyre-against-it-but-what-does-privatization-of-veterans-affairs-really-mean\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP_13102205629.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Vets groups and lawmakers say they\u2019re against it \u2014 but what does \u2018privatization\u2019 of Veterans Affairs really mean?<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The term will command much of the debate at the new VA secretary&#039;s confirmation hearing, but different groups have different definitions.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wednesday\u2019s celebration of Shulkin, which was not open to the press, included key leaders from each of the \u201cbig six\u201d veterans groups \u2014 American Legion, AMVETS, DAV, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Vietnam Veterans of America \u2014 as well as several other organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite a host of legislative victories last year, the relationship between those groups and the White House have been strained in recent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many of the veterans groups present at the event have been vocal in their disappointment over Shulkin\u2019s firing, and their concerns that forces within the administration are advocating too aggressive policies for expanding private-care medical appointments for veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several have openly objected to Trump\u2019s decision to include Concerned Veterans for America \u2014 which has close ties to the conservative Koch brothers\u2019 network \u2014 in high-level policy meetings at the White House. Shulkin has blamed affiliates of the group for his ouster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last week, officials from AMVETS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/veterans\/2018\/04\/03\/vets-group-wants-acting-va-secretary-out-calling-his-assignment-a-legal-worry\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">demanded Trump remove acting VA Secretary Robert Wilkie<\/a> from the post and elevate VA Deputy Secretary Thomas Bowman instead, citing potential legal issues with ignoring the department\u2019s chain of command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bowman has also been a target of Shulkin\u2019s critics. Both he and Wright Simpson were seen by some White House insiders as obstacles to Trump administration reform efforts, due to their longtime ties to Congress and the department bureaucracy, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Veterans policy was a positive and largely uncontroversial issue for the Trump administration for most of 2017, but it has become an increasingly politicized topic since the Shulkin travel scandal emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The prospect of a broader fight between top advocates and administration officials could produce more political challenges for a department whose leader has been forced out of office twice in the last four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., House Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee Chairman Phil Roe, R-Tenn., and Senate Veterans\u2019 Affairs Committee Chairman ranking member Jon Tester, D-Mont., also attended the Shulkin event, although their offices were not involved in the planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nearly two-thirds of veterans who voted in the 2016 presidential election backed Trump. Critics of the veterans groups have accused them of being out-of-touch with membership concerns, and of working to maintain current VA systems instead of backing Trump\u2019s proposed reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thank you for the powerful work you\u2019ve done for our <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/veterans?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#veterans<\/a>, Dr. Shulkin. <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DAVHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DAVHQ<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AmericanLegion?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AmericanLegion<\/a>  <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/78CeaJRT7K\">https:\/\/t.co\/78CeaJRT7K<\/a><\/p>&mdash; AMVETS (@AMVETSHQ) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AMVETSHQ\/status\/984194151343443974?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 11, 2018<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The event underscores a growing rift between some of the country&#8217;s most prominent veterans advocates and the White House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":44511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":25,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[15,25],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3347],"class_list":["post-39634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-veterans"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"EHGYTYT44ZCXZI3HDCUUUETZKM","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/2018\/04\/12\/veterans-advocates-honor-fired-va-secretary-at-private-dc-event\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Veterans advocates honor fired VA secretary at private DC event - Military Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The event underscores a growing rift between some of the country&#039;s most prominent veterans advocates and the White House.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Veterans advocates honor fired VA secretary at private DC event\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The event underscores a growing rift between some of the country&#039;s most prominent veterans advocates and the White House.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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