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UPDATE: SHINSEKI'S VA SECRETARY
CONFIRMATION
HEARING OFFERS NO SURPRISES -- The "love fest" at
the
Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs hearing
guarantees
Gen. Eric Shinseki will be the next VA Secretary.
Gen. Eric Shinseki at Confirmation
Hearing -- 01-14-09
I guess it's fair to say there really is no story
here.
The Confirmation Hearing of Gen. Eric Shinseki to
be VA Secretary, held by the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs on
Wednesday, January 14, 2009, offered no surprises.
The Senators stuck to their scripts... Shinseki's
answer were to the point (although most were covered in his prepared
responses to the Committee)... and, it was a true "love fest" minus the
candles and incense.
For more about Gen. Eric Shinseki, use the VA
Watchdog search engine... click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/sess
earch.php?q=shinseki&op=and
Story here...
http://www.google.com/h
ostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gX-yAUrml
VPuIRIOKnv-jGqadICQD95N2KB00
Story below:
Your comments accepted at bottom of
page.
Share story/email link.
-------------------------
Shinseki promises to modernize VA
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Barack Obama's choice to lead the
Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday that six-month waits to have
a disability claim processed would not be acceptable under his watch.
Retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki, 66, promised to modernize the nation's
second largest agency.
If confirmed, Shinseki would be the first Asian-American to lead the
agency. He received a warm welcome from senators at his confirmation
hearing before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.
Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, said he anticipates Shinseki
would be confirmed on Tuesday — the day Obama is sworn in as president.
Akaka praised Shinseki's qualifications and empathy for veterans, but
warned that leading the agency wouldn't be easy.
"The frustrating lack of timeliness, and the challenges of coordinating
DOD and VA's systems, are some of the areas that must be
 addressed
quickly," he said.
Shinseki was the Army's first four-star general of Japanese-American
descent. As Army chief of staff, he helped lead the Army's transformation
to a lighter, more mobile force. He retired in 2003, shortly after
clashing with the Bush administration on war policy.
He told the senators he doesn't understand why veterans are currently
waiting six months on average to have a claim processed. "We need to do
something about this," he said.
Shinseki said another priority would be to ensure that new GI benefits are
rolled out in August, as planned.
He promised to work to reopen benefits to many "Priority 8" middle-income
veterans who didn't qualify under the Bush administration. Such "Priority
8" veterans, whose income exceeded roughly $30,000 annually, were blocked
from enrollment in the VA system in January 2003.
As Army chief of staff, Shinseki testified before Congress prior to the
2003 invasion of Iraq that it might take several hundred thousand U.S.
troops to control the country afterward. Then-Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld belittled that estimate, and Shinseki retired soon after.
But Shinseki's words proved prophetic four years later, when President
George W. Bush announced a "surge" of additional troops to Iraq.
Like the veterans the agency serves, Shinseki knows well the potential
lifetime consequences of combat. He was injured twice in combat, losing
part of a foot while serving in Vietnam when he stepped on a land mine.
If confirmed, Shinseki would be the first Asian-American to lead the
agency.
-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
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