President Donald Trump said he agrees with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive freshman, that the Department of Veterans Affairs “isn’t broken.”
There was, however, a caveat to the president’s assertions.
“Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is correct, the VA is not broken, it is doing great,” he tweeted. “But that is only because of the Trump Administration. We got Veterans Choice & Accountability passed.”
“We got Veterans Choice & Accountability passed. ‘President Trump deserves a lot of credit.’ Dan Caldwell, Concerned Veterans of America.”
Trump supported the MISSION Act last year, which expanded private health care options within the VA system — something that Ocasio-Cortez has taken issue with.
“[T]here’s some things that we’re hearing today, there are some themes we’ve got coming out, and especially when it comes to the VA, all I can think of is that classic refrain that my parents always told me growing up,” Ocasio-Cortez said during a town hall event in New York City last week.
“Which is that, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have pushed for reforms of a health care system that has been rocked by numerous scandals.
And while some veterans have touted the progress made in fixing the VA since Trump took office, Ocasio-Cortez faced stiff criticism for her town hall comments.
“From veterans waiting 30 to 60 days for an appointment, suicide hotlines going to voicemail, to the rationing of medicine and vast cost overruns, this Department is failing on multiple fronts,” Rep. Phil Roe, the top Republican on the Veterans’ Affairs committee, said in a statement to Fox News. “To say that this is the level of care those who put their lives on the line to defend our nation deserve is frankly offensive.”
