Congress tackles problems with VA

Bills would make agency more accountable

WASHINGTON – A year after problems first surfaced at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in Phoenix, legislation to hold wrongdoers accountable is wending its way through Congress.

The military construction bill, which passed the House on Thursday, includes an amendment by Pennsylvania’s Rep. Keith Rothfus, R-Sewickley, to prohibit the sorts of performance bonuses believed to have encouraged VA managers to falsify records.

The Senate on Thursday passed its own version of the military construction bill that does not include the Rothfus amendment. A conference committee will reconcile the two versions.

Also on Thursday, three lawmakers from both chambers introduced a bipartisan VA Accountability Act, which would provide greater authority to fire corrupt or incompetent VA employees.

A 2014 law already makes it easier for managers to be fired, but the new bill would apply to all employees.

VA officials don’t welcome the expanded ability to terminate more easily.

“We are very uncomfortable with anything that would single out the VA as opposed to other federal departments because it might impair our ability to recruit,” said Carolyn M. Clancy, VA interim undersecretary for health, during a Senate Veteran Affairs Committee meeting Wednesday.

Further, she told the committee, there are concerns that punitive actions would dissuade whistleblowers from coming forward for fear of reprisal. That response didn’t sit well with Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark.

Job applicants are focused on hiring procedures, not firing procedures, and whistleblowers point out coworkers’ misdeeds, not their own, so they wouldn’t fear termination, Mr. Boozman said in an interview after the committee hearing.

“It’s certainly not going to discourage whistleblowers because they’re not the ones at fault,” Mr. Boozman said.

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, DAriz., said it is disturbing that the VA hasn’t held employees responsible for manipulating waittimes at facilities in Phoenix and around the country. She said they should be fired for actions she called shocking and sickening.

Instead of terminating bad employees, the VA has transferred them or placed them on administrative leave. That wastes taxpayer money and ensures bad employees spread problems across the country, said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., House Veterans Affairs chairman and a bill sponsor.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is sponsoring identical legislation in the Senate.

Leaders of several veterans groups, who joined lawmakers for a news conference Thursday, urged passage.

“We need a swift but fair mechanism to clear the bad actors out of the way and let the good people step forward who are going to put veterans first,” said the American Legion’s legislative director, Ian de Planque.