Skip to content

Senate Confirms Robert Wilkie to be Veterans Affairs Secretary

Newest Cabinet member has experience in Congress, Pentagon

The Senate confirmed Robert Wilkie, left, to be Veterans Affairs secretary. Here he discusses his nomination with Senate Veterans Affairs Chairman Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
The Senate confirmed Robert Wilkie, left, to be Veterans Affairs secretary. Here he discusses his nomination with Senate Veterans Affairs Chairman Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

The Senate on Monday voted 86-9 to confirm former congressional staffer and Pentagon veteran Robert Wilkie to lead the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs.

President Donald Trump tapped Wilkie for the post after his previous pick, Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, withdrew his nomination following reports that he improperly prescribed medication during his stint as White House physician.

Wilkie’s first order of business will be to reduce wait times, which often extend beyond 30 days, for veterans seeking medical appointments. Wilkie called the long wait times “unacceptable” during his June confirmation hearing.

Wilkie also noted that it will take time to improve the VA, a massive bureaucracy and the largest health care system in the United States. The department has more than 300,000 employees serving more than 9 million veterans at 1,240 facilities.

A lawyer by training with no professional medical background, Wilkie will lean on his past experience as a congressional aide in the post.

Watch: A Primer on Robert Wilkie

Loading the player...

Wilkie is currently the undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, a Senate-confirmed position. Wilkie also twice served as a Senate aide, first to former Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, in the 1990s and more recently to North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis, who sits on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee.

Recent Stories

Are these streaks made to be broken?

Supreme Court airs concerns over Oregon city’s homelessness law

Supreme Court to decide if government can regulate ‘ghost guns’

Voters got first true 2024 week with Trump on trial, Biden on the trail

Supreme Court to hear oral arguments on abortion and Trump

House passes $95.3B aid package for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan