Schatz, Hirono stand behind VA nominee

President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs has the support of Hawaii’s U.S. senators, who plan to vote for his confirmation.

Sen. Brian Schatz met with Robert McDonald on Wednesday and was impressed with McDonald’s understanding of "Hawaii’s unique needs."

McDonald, a Proctor & Gamble executive, attended West Point and "spent a fair amount of time in Hawaii," Schatz said.

"The main commitment that I was pleased to be able to secure from him was his pledge to work expeditiously on the expansion of the Aloha (veterans) center on Oahu and his commitment to accelerating the development of the center," Schatz said. "I made him aware of the difficulties of outpatient clinics on Maui and Hilo in terms of leasing issues and he assured me that, if confirmed, he will zero in on the facilities aspect of the problem in Hawaii."

Sen. Mazie Hirono, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, joined her committee colleagues Tuesday in voting unanimously to confirm McDonald. His nomination now goes to the floor for a vote that has yet to be scheduled.

"In Hawaii, there are systemic problems that we must address — I’ve been meeting with veterans across the state and they tell me how difficult it can be to get care that they need," Hirono said in an email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "They want a one-stop-shop model for the VA — an issue I raised with Mr. McDonald during his confirmation hearing. The VA needs its next secretary to have the commitment to seeing this job through, and I look forward to working alongside Mr. McDonald to improve the VA and ensure that Hawaii veterans are getting the care they deserve."

But efforts to reform the VA appeared to break down in Congress Thursday, affecting money to expand veterans benefits to Community Health Care Centers, Native Hawaiian Health Care Centers and funding for the Leeward Oahu VA Outpatient Healthcare Access Center.

Hirono appeared at a Capitol news conference Thursday and said, "We need to get to the business at hand — and that’s keeping our promise to our veterans."

Until this month, veterans in Hawaii endured the longest wait times in the VA system to get their first appointment with a primary care physician.

Schatz said McDonald "shared the public’s outrage" over the delays.

"I was impressed to the extent that he is determined to not only fix the problem in terms of the wait, but also to change the organizational culture so that nobody either explicitly or implicitly is encouraged to do anything other than be totally honest about what’s really happening," Schatz said.

Through McDonald’s training at West Point and his leadership at Proctor & Gamble, Schatz said, "integrity is his watch word. I have no doubt that he’s going to convey to everyone within the system that there should be no manipulating of data or shading of the facts and that everybody has to recommit themselves to the mission of the VA, which is to serve the veterans. In terms of his leadership qualities I’m hopeful he’s going to be able to take the reins and implement the changes that are necessary."

U.S. Rep. Colleen Hana­busa said she wished Obama had afforded Kauai native and former VA Secretary Eric Shinseki the same courtesy and patience that Obama gave to former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius when Sebelius was under fire for the Obamacare rollout.

With McDonald, Hana­busa said she hopes "we get somebody there who has the confidence of the veterans and that he would be able to address the issues that we’re faced with," adding, "It looks like the president was looking for a true administrative type with some military background. The most important thing is that he services the veterans."

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a military combat veteran, introduced a bipartisan bill last week that would reimburse medical facilities for treating VA-eligible patients across the country.

"I sincerely hope that Mr. McDonald will hold people accountable, and create a culture that requires the highest standards of integrity and service," Gabbard wrote in an email to the Star-Advertiser. "The current serious crisis has left far too many Hawaii veterans without the health care they have earned through personal sacrifice, with some waiting as long as eight years for an appointment. If Mr. McDonald is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, one of the first things he should do is to ensure veterans who have been waiting for care are able to do so immediately from non-VA healthcare providers in their communities, to immediately eliminate the backlog of veterans waiting to receive care."

A native of Gary, Ind., McDonald graduated from the Military Academy in 1975 with a degree in engineering. He served with the 82nd Airborne Division and qualified for airborne, Ranger, jungle, Arctic and desert warfare and parachute jumps.

He left the Army after serving five years as a captain, and has an MBA from the University of Utah.