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Podcasts Take Two
New VA secretary pledges action for veterans in first 90 days
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Jul 31, 2014
Listen • 5:28
New VA secretary pledges action for veterans in first 90 days
As Congress wraps up its last week before heading to an August recess, lawmakers are leaving a lot of unfinished business on the table.
Robert McDonald, President Obama's nominee to be the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, is sworn in prior to testifying before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee July 22, 2014 in Washington, DC. McDonald, if confirmed, would lead the recently scandal plagued Department of Veterans Affairs.
Robert McDonald, President Obama's nominee to be the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, is sworn in prior to testifying before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee July 22, 2014 in Washington, DC. McDonald, if confirmed, would lead the recently scandal plagued Department of Veterans Affairs.
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Win McNamee/Getty Images
)

As Congress wraps up its last week before heading to an August recess, lawmakers are leaving a lot of unfinished business on the table.

As Congress wraps up its last week before heading to an August recess, lawmakers are leaving a lot of unfinished business on the table.

One area that has moved forward, though, is action on veterans issues.

The House approved a bill to revamp the troubled Veterans Affairs Department Wednesday and the Senate confirmed a new secretary for the troubled agency, Robert McDonald. He's the former CEO of Procter and Gamble and a West Point graduate.

"I pledge to the committee and to our nation's veterans to take a series of immediate actions over the first 90 days to deliver the needed reforms our veterans deserve," McDonald told Senators at his confirmation hearing last week. "I will put the veteran at the center of everything we do, consistent with our mission."

For more on McDonald and what he's outlined for the VA, we're joined by Ralph Ibson, he's the national policy director for the Wounded Warriors Project, a veterans advocacy group.