— 640 —
Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise
ENDNOTES
1. U.S. Department of Transportation, 2023 Budget Highlights, p. 1, https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.
gov/files/2022-03/Budget_Highlights_FY2023.pdf (accessed March 3, 2023).
2. U.S. Department of Transportation, DEIA [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility] Strategic Plan FY22–
FY26, p. 2, https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2022-09/DOT%20DEIA%20Strategic%20Plan.
pdf (accessed March 3, 2023).
3. 23 U.S. Code §§ 601–609, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/23 (accessed March 3, 2023).
4. U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary, “Administrative Rulemaking, Guidance, and
Enforcement Procedures,” Final Rule, Federal Register, Vol. 84, No. 248 (December 27, 2019), pp. 71714–71734,
https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/docs/regulations/361831/fed-reg-published-final-admin-
rule.pdf (accessed March 3, 2023).
5. U.S. Department of Transportation, Build America Bureau, “About the Build America Bureau,” last updated
October 24, 2022, https://www.transportation.gov/buildamerica/about (accessed March 3, 2023).
6. S. 622, Energy Policy and Conservation Act, Public Law No. 94-163, 94th Congress, December 22, 1995, https://
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7. 42 U.S. Code Chapter 85, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/chapter-85 (accessed March 3, 2023).
8. U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “Corporate Average
Fuel Economy Standards for Model Years 2024–2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks,” Final Rule, Federal
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9. U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary, “Defining Unfair or Deceptive Practices,” Final
Rule, Federal Register, Vol. 85, No. 235 (December 7, 2020), pp. 78707–78718, https://www.transportation.gov/
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85%20FR%2078707.pdf (accessed March 3, 2023).
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Practices,” Final Rule, Federal Register, Vol. 87, No. 22 (February 2, 2022), pp. 5655–5659, https://www.
govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-02-02/pdf/2022-01589.pdf (accessed March 3, 2023).
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https://www.transportation.gov/sites/dot.gov/files/2022-04/FAA_Budget_Estimates_FY2023.pdf (accessed
March 3, 2023).
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Future Innovation, November 2013, https://www.hudson.org/sites/default/files/researchattachments/
attachment/1199/poole_hi_res.pdf (accessed March 3, 2023). Also published subsequently as Reason
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control_organization_innovation.pdf (accessed March 3, 2023).
13. H.R. 3684, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Public Law No. 117-58, 117th Congress, November 15, 2021,
https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ58/PLAW-117publ58.pdf (accessed March 3, 2023).
14. S. 6, Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, Public Law 88-365, 88th Congress, July 9, 1964, https://www.
govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-78/pdf/STATUTE-78-Pg302-2.pdf (accessed March 3, 2023).
15. U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, “About Us,” last updated March 23, 2022, https://
www.maritime.dot.gov/about-us (accessed March 4, 2023).
16. H.R. 10378, Merchant Marine Act of 1920, Public Law 66-261, 66th Congress, June 5, 1920, https://govtrackus.
s3.amazonaws.com/legislink/pdf/stat/41/STATUTE-41-Pg988.pdf (accessed March 3, 2023).
— 641 —
20
DEPARTMENT OF
VETERANS AFFAIRS
Brooks D. Tucker
MISSION STATEMENT
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the primary provider of health care,
benefits, and memorial affairs for America’s veterans and their families. The VA
has the noble responsibility to render exceptional and timely support and services
with respect, compassion, and competence. The veteran is at the forefront of every
VA process and interaction. The VA must continually strive to be recognized as a
“best in class,” “Veteran-centric”1 system with an organizational ethos inspired
by and accountable to the needs and problems of veterans, not subservient to the
parochial preferences of a bureaucracy.
OVERVIEW
At the end of the Obama Administration, the VA was held in low esteem both
by the veterans it served and by the employees who served these former warriors.
Eroding morale caused by the downstream effects of a health care access crisis
in 2014 led to the resignation of Secretary Eric Shinseki and extensive oversight
investigations by Congress from 2015–2016.
By 2020, however, the VA had become one of the most respected U.S. agencies.
This significant progress was due in part to the leadership of Secretary Robert Wilkie
(2018–2021) and his team of political appointees and career senior executives, many
of them veterans, who led the effort to ensure that the VA became “Veteran-centric”
in its governance decisions and fostered a more positive work environment.
This mindset translated into a department that was better attuned to employees’
and veterans’ needs and experiences in the daily operations of health care, benefits,