Shulkin and Council Confirmations

Floor Speech

Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, last night, the Senate confirmed David
Shulkin to be the Under Secretary for Health and LaVerne Council to be
the Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology at the
Department of Veterans Affairs, VA.

Let me begin by thanking Chairman Isakson for making the confirmation
of Dr. Shulkin and Ms. Council a priority for this Congress.

Dr. Shulkin comes to the Veterans Health Administration, VHA, with
significant experience managing complex health care organizations.
Prior to being confirmed as Undersecretary of Health Dr. Shulkin was
the president of Morristown Medical Center where he oversaw a 658-bed
facility that has received countless awards for its excellence in care.
During his confirmation hearing before the committee, Dr. Shulkin
stated, ``We all agree that the status quo is simply not acceptable. I
want to assure you that, if confirmed, it would be my sole mission each
and every day to transform the VA health system into one that provides
our veterans with the highest level of quality care.'' Given the
challenges that face VA, I look forward to working with Dr. Shulkin to
ensure the status quo does not persist. I am committed to ensuring VA
provides high-quality care options to veterans.

Ms. Council has significant private sector experience in managing
global information and technology programs, including service as the
first global chief information officer at Johnson & Johnson and leading
the consolidation of 250 operating companies across 57 countries in the
world. I trust that her experience will allow her to navigate ongoing
issues around health data interoperability between VA and DOD, and I
look forward to collaborating with her to make this a practical reality
for VA and DOD clinicians and veteran patients. At a time when data
security is being tested by dramatic increases in malware and intrusion
attempts, it is more critical than ever to have a permanent leader in
place to remediate known security deficiencies and ensure that health
and personal data remains secure in VA systems. I am committed to doing
right by veterans on this critical issue.

VA continues to lurch from crisis to crisis, facing health care
funding shortfalls, construction cost overruns, growing patient wait
times, insufficient collaboration between VA and DOD, and a backlog of
disability compensation claims and appeals. In the face of these
crises, these nominees will assume two of the toughest jobs in
government given all of the attention VA has received of late. VA's
culture has been described as corrosive and nonresponsive, and there
continues to be a need for a significant change in the culture at VA. I
expect both Dr. Shulkin and Ms. Council to use their expertise and
experience to make these changes and improve VA services for veterans.

Finally, I would like to highlight one additional area of concern.
There are far too many key leadership positions at VA that remain
unfilled. There are still five positions requiring Senate confirmation that are occupied by
officials serving in an interim or acting capacity. A permanent,
Senate-confirmed leadership team is vital to make the significant and
necessary changes to the culture of an organization of the size and
scope of VA. The bottom line is VA needs permanent, Senate-confirmed
leadership in place in order to meet the significant challenges that
continue to face the Department. The Senate needs the names of
qualified nominees to fill VA's many vacancies.

As the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I
congratulate Mr. Shulkin and Ms. Council, and thank them for their
willingness to serve the veterans of this great Nation.

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