Department Of Veterans Affairs U S

The Senate confirmed James B. Peake, a former Army surgeon general, as Veterans Affairs secretary. Retired Lt. Gen. Peake, 63, the son of a medical services officer and Army nurse, has spent 40 years in military medicine. He retired from the Army in 2004 after being lead commander in several medical posts, including four years as Army surgeon general.

The Department of Veterans Affairs, largely in response to extensive violations in research management at the VA Medical Center in West Los Angeles made public last year, will now require outside experts to evaluate its 150 facilities that do clinical studies, the agency said Tuesday. The VA thus becomes the first federal research sponsor to mandate scrutiny and approval from a non-government authority.

President Clinton has chosen Army Secretary Togo West Jr. to be secretary of Veterans Affairs, though he wants approval from key lawmakers and interest groups before nominating him. West would be Clinton's second pick to replace Jesse Brown at the helm of an agency that serves 25 million Americans. Longtime Clinton friend Hershel Gober, nominated in July, withdrew his name last month amid allegations of sexual misconduct and questions about the agency's internal review of the accusations.

A congressional panel says the investigation into Gulf War illnesses by the Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs was handled so poorly that it will recommend they be stripped of their authority over the matter, a newspaper reports. The House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight says Congress should create or designate an independent agency to coordinate research into the cause of the illnesses, the New York Times reports in today's editions.

The Veterans Affairs Department on Tuesday designated three of its medical centers as referral facilities for Persian Gulf War veterans suffering from mysterious ailments. Some soldiers returning from the Middle East have complained of maladies including fatigue, depression, hair loss, aching joints, rashes and sore and bleeding gums. The symptoms are believed to be related to environmental contaminants, including fumes from oil fields set on fire by fleeing Iraqi troops.

The Department of Veterans Affairs said it is cutting its home loan interest rate today to 7.5%, the lowest level since 1973. The mortgage rate will drop a half-point from 8%, the lowest since July, 1973, when it was raised from 6.0% to 7.75%. The cut is the second in less than two months.

President-elect Bill Clinton is believed to be on the verge of making two key urban policy appointments--Henry G. Cisneros, the former mayor of San Antonio, to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development and William Daley, the brother of Chicago's mayor, to head the Department of Transportation.

McGaw Inc.'s stock fell 21% Monday after the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs--the company's largest customer--ruled that its proposal for a renewed $129 million contract was incomplete. The preliminary rejection of McGaw's bid on the five-year contract with the federal agency came after competitor Baxter International protested that McGaw's proposal to supply intravenous products to all VA hospitals did not follow proper guidelines, the company said.