Blumenthal Statement on Senate Confirmation of Trump Loyalist John Bartrum to Lead VA's Health Care System

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today released a statement on the Senate's confirmation of John Bartrum to be the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Under Secretary for Health. Bartrum has served as a senior advisor to VA Secretary Doug Collins since January.

"Trump political acolyte John Bartrum is the wrong choice to lead VA's health care system. As a Senior Advisor to VA Secretary Collins, he has played a key role in stonewalling and slow walking Congress and veterans- continuously hiding information about VA's budget, community care wait times, contract cancellations, and staffing plans. He has also refused to implement laws as Congress intended- playing a central role in withholding critical funding required to be distributed to homeless service providers who support nearly 25,000 of our most vulnerable veterans. His lack of transparency and responsiveness to Congress is wholly unacceptable for someone who will now be tasked with leading the largest health care system in our country at a critical inflection point, and I am disappointed in this body's decision to confirm him."

As a senior advisor for Collins, Bartrum has played a key role in the firing of thousands of health care staff, the politicization of the VA research publication process, and the cancellation of thousands of VA contracts. He has also refused to implement laws as Congress intended, including the bipartisan Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare & Benefits Improvement Act. He is continuing to withhold critical funding mandated under this law for organizations housing and providing critical resources for more than 25,000 homeless veterans.

The Under Secretary for Health is tasked with overseeing the VA health care system-the largest integrated health care system in the country-which provides care to more than nine million enrolled veterans.