Bush Nominates Peake To Head Veterans Affairs
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — President Bush said that a retired Army lieutenant general, James Peake, chosen yesterday to head the embattled Veterans Affairs Department, would work to end months-long delays facing hundreds of thousands of American troops trying to get treatment and benefits.
The nomination comes as the administration and Congress struggle to resolve some of the worst problems afflicting wounded warriors, such as getting adequate mental health care and disability checks on time.
Dr. Peake, 63, a medical doctor who has spent 40 years in military medicine, retired from the Army in 2004 after being at the helm in several medical posts, including four years as the Army surgeon general.
“He will be the first physician and the first general to serve as secretary,” Mr. Bush said, standing next to Dr. Peake in the Roosevelt Room. “He will apply his decades of expertise in combat medicine and health care management to improve the veterans health system.”
In February, reports surfaced of shoddy outpatient treatment, poor living conditions, and bureaucratic delays at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.
Soon afterward, Mr. Bush set up a presidential commission chaired by a former senator, Bob Dole, a Republican of Kansas, and a former Health and Human Services secretary during the Clinton administration, Donna Shalala.
If confirmed by the Senate, Dr. Peake’s first task will be to continue carrying out the commission’s recommendations either through executive or legislative action.
“The disability system is largely a 1945 product, 1945 processes around a 1945 family unit,” Dr. Peake said. “About everybody that has studied it recently said it is time to do some revisions.”
The VA’s backlog is between 400,000 and 600,000 claims, with delays of about 180 days.
In other news, Mr. Bush and President Museveni of Uganda focused on trade and fighting disease during a meeting yesterday at the White House. There was no mention, when the two appeared before reporters afterward, of alleged human rights abuses by the Ugandan government or of Mr. Museveni’s maneuvers to remain in power for 21 years.
