Donald Trump administration Secretary of Veterans Affairs appointment, 2017

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Department Secretaries Marco Rubio • Scott Bessent • Pete Hegseth • Pam Bondi • Doug Burgum • Brooke Rollins • Lori Chavez-DeRemer • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. • Scott Turner • Howard Lutnick • Sean Duffy • Chris Wright • Linda McMahon • Doug Collins • Kristi Noem

Following his election as the 45th President of the United States in 2016, Donald Trump and his transition team considered individuals to fill the position of Secretary of Veterans Affairs. The secretary of veterans affairs is tasked with fulfilling the department's "serving and honoring the men and women who are America's veterans." David Shulkin was nominated for the position on January 11, 2017, and was confirmed on February 3, 2017.

Nomination tracker
Candidate: David Shulkin
Position: Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Confirmation progress
a	Announced:	January 11, 2017
a	Hearing:	February 1, 2017
a	Committee:	Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
a	Reported:	February 7, 2017, (15-0)
a	Confirmed:	February 13, 2017
a	Vote:	100-0

To read more about the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and its current staff, click here.

Timeline

See also: David Shulkin

The following timeline highlights noteworthy events related to this appointment.

• January 11, 2017: Trump nominated David Shulkin for the position.
• February 3, 2017: The U.S. Senate voted 100-0 to confirm Shulkin.

David Shulkin confirmation vote, February 13, 2017
Party	Votes for a	Votes against d	Total votes
Democrats	46	0	46
Republicans	52	0	52
Independents	2	0	2
Total Votes	100	0	100

Considered candidates for Secretary of Veterans Affairs

The table below highlights individuals who were either nominated to the position by Trump or were mentioned in the media as potential nominees.

Considered candidates for Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Name	Notable experience	Source
Jeff Miller	Former chair of House Veterans Affairs Committee	The New York Times
Sam Clovis	Trump campaign co-chair	ABC News
Michael Flynn	Former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency	ABC News
Duncan Hunter	U.S. Representative from California	ABC News
Joseph Keith Kellogg	Former Lieutenant General and Trump campaign advisor	ABC News
David Petraeus	General	ABC News
Scott Brown	Former U.S. Senator from Massachusetts	Politico
Sarah Palin	Former Gov. of Alaska	Politico
Robert McDonald	Secretary of Veterans Affairs	The New York Times
Pete Hegseth	Former CEO of Concerned Veterans for America	National Review
Luis Quinonez	President of MAQ Diversified	Univision
Toby Cosgrove	CEO of Cleveland Clinic	ABC News
Thad Allen	Retired Coast Guard Admiral	Fox News
Michelle Howard*	U.S. Naval Forces Commander in Europe	CNN
Leo MacKay Jr.	Senior vice president at Lockheed Martin	The Washington Post
David Shulkin	Undersecretary for health at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs	NPR
*According to The Washington Post, Howard declined to pursue the position after meeting with Trump in December 2016.

See also

Executive Branch portal U.S. Department of State U.S. Department of Homeland Security U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Department of Commerce U.S. Department of Labor U.S. Department of Energy U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of the Treasury U.S. Department of Education U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Department of Health and Human Services U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

External links

• Official Secretary of Veterans Affairs website