The House is expected to approve the revisions passed by the Senate on Tuesday on a bipartisan bill that makes firing employees easier in the Department of Veterans Affairs, agency head David Shulkin told "Fox & Friends."
The bill "will allow me to make sure that we have the right people leading the VA," Shulkin said. "That means that the people that have lost their values are going to need to leave and we're going to be able to get people in faster to make sure we're fixing the system."
The legislation comes after several scandals at the VA in recent years, most notably the death of some veterans who were waiting months for medical appointments.
The bill's bipartisan authors had said a key problem of enacting reform was the department's inability to sanction or fire employees due to existing civil service protections.
Public service employee unions opposed the legislation.
"I think the union always has concerns, but we are committed to due process for people," Shulkin told Fox. "But the union understands that the VA needs to change. That this has been long overdue, and I think that they are going to understand and work to make sure that we are able to do what we need to do to get this system fixed."
When asked why he thought there was finally movement on finding a solution for the problems at the VA, Shulkin said, "I think this is really the president's leadership saying that when it comes to doing the right thing for our veterans, this is a top priority, and we have to treat this as different than usual.
"These are years and years, maybe decades of issues that haven't been dealt with, and were going to treat this like a business. And we’re going to get the job done. I'm glad to be able to do that," Shulkin said.
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