Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin told The Daily Caller Tuesday that 4,000 more troops in Afghanistan will not deter the V.A. from providing health care for returning veterans.
“Our mission is to care for whoever comes out of the Department of Defense, so we’re not involved in determining what the personnel levels are, but it is our job to care for them,” Shulkin told the Daily Caller.
“We will fulfill that mission,” Shulkin said. “The president and Congress will provide us with the resources to take care of Veterans who return. So, no, I don’t believe this is going to change the way that we do business. It’s part of our continued commitment to veterans.”
In August, the Trump administration approved the deployment of 4,000 more troops to Afghanistan.
The Department of Veterans Affairs received $2.1 billion in emergency funding in August, and those finances are already dwindling.
Shulkin also said that Congress’ failure to repeal Obamacare may affect the number of veterans for whom the V.A. will provide health care services.
“I don’t think it’s going to complicate things because the V.A. is an approved option as one of the options for Obamacare,” Shulkin told The Daily Caller. “What I think it may do is it may adjust the number of veterans coming to us either more or less depending upon what the ultimate health care policy is. We constantly are looking at that to make sure that we do have the resources to take care of our veterans that are coming to us.”