Week ahead: VA nominee faces questions on Trump’s plans

Congress gets back to work after a shortened week that saw Republicans head to Philadelphia for their annual retreat.

On the top of lawmakers’ docket will be picking up their work on President Trump’s Cabinet nominations.

The defense community will be paying close attention to the hearing for David Shulkin, Trump’s nominee to be Veterans Affairs secretary.

Shulkin is expected to be confirmed easily — Republicans, Democrats and veterans groups alike have praised his nomination. He’s currently the under secretary of health at the VA, a position for which he was confirmed unanimously in 2015.

But observers will be watching to see what Shulkin has to say about Trump’s plans to reform the VA.

Trump pledged during the campaign to overhaul the agency, so it surprised many when he nominated an Obama administration appointee to run the department. But Shulkin has a history in the private sector, where he became known for turning around struggling hospitals.

One area to watch is what Shulkin says about Trump’s calls to allow veterans to visit private-sector doctors rather than VA doctors. Most veterans groups have blasted such plans as amounting to privatization, saying they would undermine the VA by shifting resources away from it.

As under secretary of health, Shulkin has advocated for greater integration of private-sector providers with the VA. But he hasn’t backed the type of plans veterans groups call privatization.

Shulkin’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 106. http://bit.ly/QMCCoU

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary James Mattis will make his first trip abroad since starting his new job. He’s expected to press ahead with his efforts to reassure allies shaken by many of Trump’s remarks on the campaign trail.

The trip, from Wednesday to Saturday, will be to South Korea and Japan. The two countries were rattled by Trump’s comments about allowing them to develop their own nuclear weapons and withdrawing American troops if they don’t pay a bigger share of the cost of deployment.

Mattis has been on a reassurance drive in his first week on the job, speaking by phone with the head of NATO and his counterparts in France, Germany, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, the U.K. and Canada.

Committees are also ramping up their hearing schedules beyond confirmation hearings.

On Wednesday, the House Armed Services Committee will bring in two intelligence heavyweights — Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus and John McLaughlin, former acting director of the CIA — to discuss the “State of the World: National Security Threats and Challenges,” at 10 a.m. at the Rayburn House Office Building, room 2118. For more information, go here. 

Also Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security Committee will look at “Fencing Along the Southwest Border,” at 10 a.m. at the Dirksen Senate Office Building, room 342. Witnesses will include former senior homeland security officials. For more information, go here. 

The House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday will hold a hearing on the “Next Steps in the ‘Special Relationship’ — Impact of a U.S.-U.K. Free Trade Agreement” 10 a.m. at Rayburn 2172. For information go here. 

On Thursday the Foreign Affairs Committee holds a joint subcommittee hearing on Israel, the Palestinians and the United Nations: Challenges for the New Administration, at 10 a.m. at Rayburn 2172. For more information go here. 

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee takes a look on Tuesday at “Confronting the North Korea Threat: Reassessing Policy Options” at 10 a.m. Dirksen 419. For more information click here. 

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