A leader for one of the Department of Veterans Affairs' three sub-administrations has been approved by the Senate as the chamber works through a hefty backlog of nominees ahead of a monthlong summer break.
In a 54-44 vote Tuesday night, the Senate confirmed Sam Brown, an Army veteran and failed Senate candidate, to be VA under secretary for memorial affairs. The vote was mostly along party lines, except for two Democrats who supported him: Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., who beat Brown in Nevada's Senate race last year, and Nevada's other Democratic senator, Catherine Cortez Masto.
"After the Senate confirmed my nomination to be under secretary of Veterans Affairs tonight, I prayed with my family to thank God for guiding us to this point," Brown posted on social media after the vote. "I thanked Amy and our kids for supporting my efforts to serve the great USA again. And, I closed my prayer in asking for wisdom in this leadership role. Humbled and honored to give you all my best, again."
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A West Point alumnus, Brown served in the Army for five years, during which he was severely wounded by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. He suffered burns on nearly one-third of his body, including his face and neck, and lost his left index finger.
After he medically retired, he founded Palisade Strategies, a pharmacy benefits manager that connects VA medical centers with pharmaceutical companies.
As under secretary of memorial affairs and National Cemetery Administration leader, Brown will be in charge of the VA's 155 national cemeteries and the VA grant program for state and tribal veteran cemeteries. He will also be responsible for continuing to grow the VA's online memorial, as well as for policies on distributing plaques and urns that have come under some criticism in recent years.
Brown's confirmation hearing, which he shared with two other VA nominees, largely focused on the VA's since-abandoned plans to fire more than 80,000 employees. The department said earlier this month it won't cull its workforce that much, but that it still expects to lose about 30,000 employees to attrition this year.
WIth Brown's confirmation, three of the top five positions at the VA are now filled, with the under secretaries for health and benefits still pending. The nominee for under secretary for health had a confirmation hearing last week, while the benefits under secretary nominee is awaiting a hearing.
Brown's confirmation was stalled for months while nominations piled up on the Senate floor as Democrats have been demanding roll call votes on nearly all of President Donald Trump's nominees in protest of his policies.
It's not uncommon for senators to stall nominees over political differences, but typically some lower-level nominees are confirmed in voice votes. This year, though, Democrats have not allowed any civilian nominees to be approved in a voice vote, forcing the Senate to take dozens of time-consuming roll call votes.
Republicans and the Trump administration have hammered Democrats over the delays, with the VA particularly critical of the holdup on Brown.
"One, Sam Brown, who is going to be head of our mortuary affairs and our cemeteries, gave some of his own body to service of this country after being blown up, and yet he's right now being held hostage in the United States Senate by the same people who actually want to say we want you to hire veterans and not fire veterans," VA Secretary Doug Collins said at a May Senate hearing as he criticized Democrats for delaying nominees.
Republicans have been churning through votes on nominees this week with the Senate scheduled to be out of town all of August, though some Republicans have been pushing for the Senate to cancel its break in order to confirm more nominees.
In addition to Brown, the Senate approved former D.C. National Guard lawyer Earl Matthews to be Defense Department general counsel on Tuesday in a 50-47 straight party line vote and is scheduled to vote Wednesday evening on Army veteran and failed House candidate Joe Kent's nomination to be director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Tuesday night also took a procedural step to vote on Cheryl Mason, the nominee for VA inspector general, in the coming days.
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