Tester and Pelosi Echoing Same VA Talking Points
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) are echoing the same talking points when it comes to veterans health care.
As President Trump announced his pick to serve as the next Secretary of Veterans Affairs, Nancy Pelosi immediately went on the attack, criticizing the pick for a supposed "lack of VA leadership experience."
As NBC News reports, Pelosi added this:
"The abrupt dismissal of Secretary Shulkin is a troubling step in the Trump Administration’s ultimate goal of VA privatization," Pelosi said in a statement after the news broke.
You may recall that Tester used these exact same talking points when defending outgoing VA Secretary David Shulkin in an interview with The Billings Gazette's Tom Lutey back in February.
Tester, the ranking member of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, said those wanting to push Shulkin out also favor complete privatization of veterans’ health care
Tester used the same "privatization" attacks, despite being called out by The Washington Post. The Post gave Tester "Three Pinocchios" for the misleading rhetoric.
Under the CVA’s proposal, it is the veteran’s choice whether to get medical care from VA or a private doctor. There’s no mandate for a certain percentage of VA’s services to be provided in the private market or for certain medical facilities to be shut down. We award Three Pinocchios to this misleading rhetoric.
By the way, below is a photo of the man President Trump is nominating to be the next VA secretary. (And yes, those are jump wings on his chest)