WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) — Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough told staff he plans to step down from the cabinet-level post after the current presidential term has finished, according to people familiar with the matter.

McDonough, who took the helm at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Feb. 2021, told staff this month that he plans to leave the post irrespective of the election’s outcome. “Who knows what will happen in November,” he said to staff, according to the people familiar with the comments, who asked not to be named as the details are private. “I think it’s time for some new blood.”

President Joe Biden tapped McDonough in 2020 to lead the VA, the second largest federal agency behind the Department of Defense, which provides health care and other benefits to nine million military veterans and their families. Though McDonough didn’t serve in the military or have health-care experience, he was a known progressive political operator in Washington.

He previously served as chief of staff to former President Barack Obama during his second term in office. During that period, he oversaw the overhaul of the VA after an uproar regarding wait times for veterans seeking care.

Upon tapping him for the VA’s top job, Biden’s transition team described McDonough as “a first-class manager” who could navigate the ins and outs of the government to improve health care and other services for veterans.

During his tenure as VA secretary, the agency encountered challenges such as responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing a spike in veteran suicides and implementing a $16 billion contract with Oracle Corp. for health records modernization. It also experienced a backlog of almost 400,000 benefits claims, partly due to the Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics, or PACT Act. Signed into law in 2022, it expanded health care and benefits for about 3.5 million veterans exposed to toxic burn pits while serving overseas. The pits have been linked to certain illnesses because of the toxins present in the smoke.

Prior to Biden’s unprecedented announcement to withdraw from the 2024 presidential election, the 54-year-old McDonough had already determined he was ready to leave the post, according to one of the people familiar with the secretary’s plans. That decision isn’t likely to change regardless of whether Vice President Kamala Harris or former President Donald Trump wins the presidential election, the person said.

In a statement, VA press secretary Terrence Hayes praised McDonough’s work.

“As President Biden charged him to do on day one, Secretary McDonough is fighting like hell to make sure that Veterans get the health care and benefits they’ve earned for their service to our nation — and he will continue to do exactly that,” Hayes said.

As the Nov. 5 U.S. elections near, the heads of the 15 executive departments who currently form Biden’s cabinet of advisers will likely plot their next moves. The VA secretary must be nominated by the U.S. president and confirmed by the Senate before being sworn in.

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